An electrician’s union has officially endorsed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, signaling a growing shit in labour support towards the Conservatives ahead of the 2025 federal election.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2067 released a letter endorsing Poilievre, citing serious concerns over the Liberal government’s energy and environmental policies.
The union wrote that “the Liberal Government has for years threatened the livelihoods of our members with irrational environmental regulations and industrial/consumer carbon taxation.”
According to the letter, over 1,000 union members lost jobs due to “Liberal government orders to close conventional coal power generation without a practical transition timeline.”
This refers to the Trudeau government’s 2018 policy framework, to “phase out conventional coal by 2030” according to a 2018 executive summary on coal-fired electricity policy.
According to the Fraser Institute, the Liberal government’s “Just Transition” plan relied on future, unprecedented technological transitions, such as a transition to 100 per cent EV vehicle sales by 2035.
These changes are currently impossible to achieve, leaving thousands of Canadian workers in the energy industry unemployed due to the Liberals’ regulations on traditional energy industries.
The union argued that the policies of Pierre Poilievre stand in stark contrast with other federal politicians, having listened to the concerns of the union and learned about their industries, advocating on their behalf in Ottawa.
IBEW claims that Poilievre and his Conservative party are the only ones “talking about the brutal Chinese canola tariffs” that are hurting union members.
According to the Government of Canada, China imposed a 100 per cent tariff on Canadian Canola oil, meal and peas and at the same time imposed tariffs on certain Canadian pork, fish and seafood products.
The letter highlights Poilievre’s “Boots Not Suites” election platform, which commits to reversing Liberal underfunding with a tenfold increase in the federal Union Innovation Training Program, from $25M annually to $250M, in order to train 350,000 tradesmen.
The letter closes by accusing Carney’s Liberals of “not telling the truth” to Canadians after ten years of “very serious economic decline,” and accusing the incumbent of being willing to do “anything to stay in power at the expense of working Canadians.”