November 17, 2025

EDMONTON—Today, Alberta Federation of Labour President, Gil McGowan, and Secretary Treasurer, Cori Longo, officially launched the Worker Agenda, a campaign to change the political narrative in the province. McGowan delivered the following remarks from the River Valley Room in Edmonton’s Chateau Lacombe:

“Here in Alberta, an increasing number of citizens, including members of our unions, have been making it very clear what they’re against.

They’re against pulling Alberta out of the Canada Pension Plan.

They’re against funding our public schools at the lowest level in Canada.

They’re against fragmentation, privatization and chronic short-staffing in our health care system.

They’re against deepening our economic integration with Donald Trump’s America.

They’re against cozying up with separatists.

They’re against opening the eastern slopes of the Rockies to coal mines that could poison our water supplies.

They’re against letting anti-vaxxers turn us into the measles capital of North America.

They’re against politicians using culture-war tactics against vulnerable minorities.

And, most recently, the majority of Albertans made it abundantly clear that they’re against using the Notwithstanding Clause to strip teachers and other citizens of their democratic rights.

That’s a lot to be against.

But, sadly, all of those things, together, essentially constitute our current government’s agenda – the UCP agenda.

It can also be described as a Northern MAGA agenda, because it’s so similar to agenda being pushed by the Trump administration south of the border.

The UCP did not run on most of this agenda. In fact, during the last election, Danielle Smith explicitly said she would NOT do many of these things

But she’s doing them anyway.

We in the Alberta labour have made it very clear that we are against the UCP agenda.

In fact, we’ve committed ourselves to doing everything in our power to stop the Smith government from successfully implementing their agenda.

Specifically, we have committed to work with our fellow Albertans on recall campaigns.

We’ve committed to consider initiative campaigns.

And we’ve committed to building towards a general strike.

All of these plans are in the works.

But there’s a missing piece.

If you really want to change things, you can’t just say what you’re against; you have to say what we’re for.

That’s why we’re here today.

The UCP has its agenda. It’s MAGA North agenda. The agenda that Albertans didn’t actually vote for.

Today, we’re unveiling our agenda – the Worker Agenda.

It’s an agenda that was developed and workshopped by real working Albertans who are members of unions affiliated to the Alberta Federation of Labour.

Nurses and truck drivers. Paramedics and grocery store workers. Education assistants and boilermakers. Transit operators and meat packing workers.

Those are the authors of the Worker Agenda.

And it was poll tested in the spring by the polling firm, Environics.

To put it simply, our ideas are more popular with Albertans, especially working Albertans, than the UCP’s ideas.

Not just a little bit more popular. A lot more popular.

We want to contrast our Worker Agenda to the UCP agenda.

We want to show our fellow Albertans that there are alternatives.

Perhaps most importantly, we want to send a message to our province’s political parties – both UCP and NDP. If they want worker support, offer them a real worker agenda.

No more toxic Trump-style tactics designed to anger, distract and divide us.

No more timid half measures that don’t really address the issues that are making life hard for us.

Our Worker Agenda has seven planks – corresponding to the things Alberta workers want, but which our politicians aren’t doing enough to address.

First, the Worker Agenda calls for wages that keep up with inflation.

We achieve that goal by increasing the minimum wage to $20/hour; by moving to a 40-hour work week from 44; by introducing pay equity legislation and a Gig Workers Bill of Rights; by protecting the right to strike; and by making it easier to join unions.

Second, we’re calling for real action on affordability – with policies like rent freezes, public auto insurance, regulated power, public housing solutions and an excess profits tax to prevent price-gouging by big, monopolistic corporations.

Third, we need a strategy for jobs and the economy that involves more than giving billionaires our money.

This strategy needs to acknowledge a) the implications to our province of shifts in global demand for oil; b) the dangers posed to the Canadian economy by Trump and his policies of economic and political domination; and c) the threat posed to workers by artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.

Fourth, we need our government to commit for protecting and enhancing the public services working families need – starting with a reversal of the current government’s approach of underfunding public education and fragmenting and privatizing public health care.

We especially need to address the under-staffing crisis in education and health care.

Fifth, we need real health and safety at work – including protection from getting sick over and over again due to exposure to things like Covid in the workplace. Anti-science attacks on public health are attacks on workers.

Sixth, we need a serious commitment to defending our democracy.

We do that by rejecting separatism; by putting restrictions on the undemocratic use of the Notwithstanding Clause; and by pushing back against misinformation and MAGA-style extremism, especially disinformation targeted at workers.

Seventh, and finally, we need a plan to address and reverse wealth inequality, which is at the root of so many of problems faced by our society.

The solution lies in making profitable corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes and royalties.

Instead of forcing voters to always swallow the agendas of politicians, we think it’s time for politicians to respond to the ACTUAL priorities of ordinary citizens.

That’s what the Worker Agenda is all about!

The ideas and policies we’re proposing are not radical or impractical. They’re all policies that have been successfully implemented in multiple jurisdictions in Canada and around the world.

Over the next six or seven months, we’ll be taking the Worker Agenda on the road, with town halls all over the province, starting with Red Deer on Monday.

We’re also preparing a slick and professional podcast series aimed at popularizing our ideas.

Finally, we’re going to use our province’s citizen initiative legislation in an effort to put three of our Worker Agenda ideas in front of Albertans for referendum votes.

Through her Alberta Next panel process, Premier Smith has made it pretty clear she intends to put referendum questions on the ballot for some of her MAGA north pet projects.

We going to counter that effort by working to get some referendum questions of our own on the ballot – questions straight out of the Worker Agenda.

Specifically, we’ll be pushing for a question that would restrict the pre-emptive use of the Notwithstanding Clause.

We’ll also attempt to get enough signatures to get a referendum question on increasing the minimum wage to $20 and another question on keeping Alberta in the Canada Pension Plan.

We’re not just going to say that the Worker Agenda is more popular than the UCP agenda, we’re going to prove it.

In a political environment where many citizens have soured on politicians and political parties, our goal is to build a worker-focused coalition of citizens that’s so BIG and VOCAL in their support for these ideas that our elected leaders have no choice but to make the Worker Agenda the actual agenda for Alberta!”

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BACKGROUND:

The Worker Agenda was endorsed by delegates at the AFL’s 54th Constitutional Convention, April 27, 2025
Press release

The AFL released polling results showing the popularity of many core elements of the Worker Agenda, May 21, 2025
Press release

The AFL has scheduled town halls to promote the Worker Agenda in Red Deer (November 17) and Calgary (December 1). More tour dates will be announced soon.
AFL events

The Worker Agenda podcast launches on January 4, 2026

MEDIA CONTACT:
Laurence Miall
Director of Communications and Campaigns, AFL
Email: lmiall@afl.org

Photo credit: Ron Palmer