The local president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) wants Ontario residents to wake up.
Mario Spagnuolo along with other teacher union representatives protested on Riverside Drive near Sandwich Town Wednesday morning during the campaign kick-off for Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford.
"He's here to fight Trump, he is the equivalent of Donald Trump in Ontario and that's what he's asking us to give a mandate to," says Mario Spagnuolo. "We need to wake up, Ontarians need to wake up."
Spagnuolo, who is also the interim president of The Windsor and District Labour Council says his members are frustrated with Ford's games and gimmicks.
He says they came out to bring attention to the cuts that have happened in public education and public health care.
Spagnuolo feels the election is a distraction for the public from the real issues in the province.
"He had the mandate to fight tariffs and he had the opposition parties with him that would have supported him in that argument with Donald Trump," says Spagnuolo.
He says his members need help in the classroom, help in hospitals and help in clinics.
"Society is judged by how we treat children and how we treat seniors and this government should be judged by the same type of measure and they've abandoned both kids and seniors," he says. "To say that he needs a mandate is ironic first of all that he's doing it here because we've seen the devastating affects that this government has," says Spagnuolo.
President Trump is threatening steep and sweeping tariffs that would devastate our economy.
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) January 29, 2025
To protect Ontario, I’m asking the people for a strong, stable, four-year mandate. With your support, I’ll do whatever it takes to stand up and fight back. pic.twitter.com/DT9Y8lP7Ev
Ford launched his campaign in west Windsor Wednesday morning with the Ambassador Bridge and Detroit in the background.
He was joined by members of the local Labourers' International Union of North America (LiUNA) along with local PC candidates Andrew Dowie, Anthony Leardi and Tony Francis.
