I attended the 2024 LiUNA Local 183 Stewards and Family Christmas Dinner and Dance on Saturday, December 7, 2024 which took place at LIUNA 183 headquarters in Vaughan, Ontario. This event united union members, political leaders, and special guests.
Rosemary Baptista, LJI reporter, representing Brazilian Wave Magazine, with Joseph Mancinelli (Photo: personal archive)
The opening, welcoming and celebratory speech by Mr. Joseph Mancinelli, International Vice President and Regional Manager for Central and Eastern Canada of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, received a standing ovation. And the Inspiring, Motivating and Empowering speeches, by the political leaders, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills and Development, The Honourable David Paccini and the Leader of the opposing party, the Honourable Pierre Poilievre, Carleton MP, CPC leader who is running to be the new Prime Minister of Canada, about rebuilding Canada left members and guests feeling hopeful for a better Canada, that offers a great future free of crime, professional opportunities and a peaceful and healthy environment that illustrates a First World Country.
Adding humour, the enlightened and joyful, Joe Mancinelli commented: “This hall is a lot bigger than the last hall, so it takes a while to walk from the table to the stage. I think golf carts are in order.”
We captured the essence of these special speeches, to share with our readers:
Mr. Mancinelli reminded the attendees that this is the time of year when LiUNA starts to reflect on the past 12 months and the achievements of their organization, particularly in Local 183. He added, “The accomplishments in the past 12 months have been incredible. You just have to look around this room and this building; it’s a testament to some of the great work that our labourers have done, that our members have done to create this wonderful facility. But this also happens because of the leadership here, and I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this doesn’t happen without strong leadership. Jack Oliveira and his team deserve a lot of credit for the great work they do and the service they provide to the members.”
Mr. Mancinelli congratulated all members of LiUNA Local 183 for the great work they do and explained that LiUNA relies on the stewards, who are members on the front lines of their organization, to ensure that the hard work they have accomplished over the last 120 years in building this organization and creating the best conditions for their members is maintained. He also affirmed that LiUNA is the strongest trade union in Canada, the largest construction union in Canada, and that Local 183 is the largest and strongest local in the international union.
“We have great leadership in our organization, and we have great leadership on our front lines. So I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the great work you continue to do representing our organization. I want to wish you and your family the very best of the Christmas season, and I know for certain that 2025 is going to be a wonderful year.”
The Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, David Paccini, started his speech by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. “Merry Christmas! It is wonderful to be with all of you here this evening in a place that feels most like home. It’s incredible what a space you have built here. This didn’t just happen; it happened because of the strength of this union, the strength of Local 183, and your 70,000+ members. Thank you for the work you do every day. I want to give a special thank you to the leadership, to the entire LiUNA leadership here under Joseph Mancinelli, Jack Oliveira, and the Executive Board of Local 183. It’s been nothing short of remarkable to see the success of this local over the past year as your Labour Minister.
It’s been an exciting year—we’re building, we’re building a stronger Ontario. And to the Stewards here tonight: the collective agreements are just paper without you. Without you enforcing those collective agreements, without you protecting your members and ensuring their success, none of this would be possible. So, let’s give it up for all the shop stewards here tonight!
I’ve been honored to work with this incredible team over the past year, and I’m excited because I believe the best days for Ontario are yet to come. We have record investments in infrastructure, and as I think about the Ontario we’re building—about the skyscrapers downtown, about the 1.5 million homes we need to build—I look out at the people who are getting the job done. You are literally and figuratively building a stronger Ontario every day.
You truly inspire the best of Ontario, but we cannot rest on our laurels. For too long, we’ve been up against those who prioritize study after study, those who are okay with delays, and those who spend more time fixating on inaction rather than building. You are the ones building a stronger Ontario, and I am grateful for that.
Together, we’ve made historic investments in our training centre, which will soon break ground. Together, we’ve made historic progress with the “Slow Down and Move Over” legislation to protect your workers on highways. Yes, it’s your workers out there, and they deserve respect. They deserve to be protected and to come home safely after a rewarding day at work, to hug their loved ones.
It is through working with all of you that we’ve been able to get tough on bad actor employers, saying it’s not okay to turn a blind eye to worker health and safety. One fatality is one too many, and that cannot be normalized—not in my Ontario, not in any Ontario. So, we’ve introduced mandatory minimums to hold employers accountable and ensure that as our province grows, we protect our workers.
As a grandson of an immigrant, I am excited for an Ontario where we can proudly say we helped build the skyline we love. Those days are coming again in this province. As we think about public transit, roads, and bridges, you are the ones who will make it happen. Thank you all for everything you do. Thank you for partnering with our government. Merry Christmas, everyone!”
When introducing the Honourable Pierre Poilievre, Carleton MP and CPC leader, who is running to be the next Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Mancinelli explained that Poilievre rose through the ranks in Ottawa, first as the Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development, and also as the Minister of Democratic Institutions. “He has held numerous positions in Parliament since he was first elected in 2004 in Carleton. He has also held numerous positions in opposition, shadowing several ministers in the Liberal government.
He is a strong leader—a leader desperately needed in Canada. He is a leader who fights against the carbon tax, and a champion for new energy programs and infrastructure in Canada. He is fighting against bureaucracy and inertia in government, especially in Ottawa. He recently had the opportunity to visit a number of our training centres, including, just a few weeks ago, my home local in Hamilton.
He has toured here and in other training centres across Ontario. He stands for a better Canada, a stronger Canada—a Canada with strong family values and Canadian values. We are looking forward to the day when we can call this gentleman the Prime Minister of Canada. Please welcome the Leader of the Opposition, Pierre Poilievre.”
Pierre Poilievre’s wife, Anaida, also joined him.
Poilievre expressed that he and his wife Anaida were honoured to be at this event to say a big and enthusiastic Merry Christmas to everyone. “I want to thank the great Joe Mancinelli, whose family is now in its third generation of fighting for the labourers of LiUNA—a tradition that his father started 60 years ago, and that his kids, and I suspect someday his grandkids, will be continuing as well. A great thank you to Jack Oliveira for leading as Business Manager of the single biggest union local in all of North America.”
Poilievre greeted all those present, including Nelson Melo, Victoria Mancinelli, Mayor Lucas Cleveland, “and my great friend, whom I met when he was a barista at an Italian deli, and he made me the most amazing old-fashioned cappuccino, your own Labour Minister, David ‘The Bambini’ Pacini. He can make a great cappuccino the old-fashioned way. Then we have the great Member of Parliament, MP Roberts from Vaughan–King–Aurora, and Michael Giuliani, future Member of Parliament serving the people working in the steel sector.”
“I learned about LiUNA about 20 years ago when a Calabrese friend of mine told me I had never had real Italian food and that I needed to come to the basement of his parents’ house. I went downstairs and sat down with his two parents, who came to Canada from Italy in 1973. They still didn’t speak English. His father got a job right off the boat as a LiUNA construction worker. He was paving roads, doing some of the work that you all do here. He couldn’t speak to me in English, but I saw this plaque on the wall, and it said LiUNA. I didn’t know what it meant at the time—it was 20 years ago. So I asked, ‘What is that?’ and he said, ‘Pension.’ That was the one English word he did know. He never forgot that word.
“So, I would like to thank all of the pensioners—the retired members of LiUNA—who are here today, who are rightfully enjoying the fruit of their labor. They built this country, and now they are owed a pension—a good pension—which buys a dignified retirement. I also want to thank your health and safety reps, who ensure that mothers and fathers come home safely after a day’s work; your stewards, who make sure your collective agreements are enforced; and all of your representatives.
“You know, the story of that gentleman—his name was Albino Greco. When I went to the Ottawa training center, they still remembered him, even though he had been retired for all those years. He recently passed away. That was the story of Canada’s promise—a very simple promise: You work hard, you get a good paycheck and a pension that buys affordable food and a home on a safe street, and anyone from anywhere can do anything.
“That promise was made to me when I was born to a 16-year-old single mother, who had to put me up for adoption to two schoolteachers. They gave me a good life and told me about that promise. That promise was also made to my wife when she came here as a refugee from Venezuela. Her family has since succeeded.
“But today, that promise is broken. Everything costs more; work doesn’t pay. Housing costs have doubled. The people who build our houses—many of them members of LiUNA—cannot afford to live in them. This is not because you’re failing to negotiate good compensation or because you haven’t invested in an incredible pension plan—which you have—but because outrageous inflation has robbed the purchasing power of our working people in this country. Bankers and billionaires are getting richer and richer off money-printing inflation, which is a transfer of wealth from the have-nots to the haves.
“Our energy is taxed, which means our food is taxed. Two million people—a quarter of whom have jobs—line up at food banks every single month. Scurvy is making a comeback. Our streets are overtaken by crimes committed by a small group of rampant career criminals, who are released again and again. Enough, my friends. Life was not like this before Justin Trudeau, and it won’t be like this after he is gone.
“We will rebuild the country we all knew—the country we still love, the country that Joe, Jack, and LiUNA have been fighting for their whole lives. We will do it with a commonsense plan: to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, and stop the crime.
“We will axe the carbon tax to bring down gas, heat, and grocery bills. We’ll lower income and other taxes so that hard work pays off and people can bring home powerful paychecks. We will take the GST off new homes, saving you $50,000 on a purchase, and stimulate more home-building. We’ll incentivize our municipalities to speed up permits, free up land, and cut development charges to build, build, build. And we will back the trades because it will take boots, not suits, to get the houses built.
“I’ll be sending a present to every high school principal in Canada. It’ll be a box with a module for free apprenticeship programs for every single licensed trade, so our high school kids can get a jumpstart, earn their pre-apprenticeship hours, and safely accelerate toward a Red Seal in the trades.
“We’ll redirect money currently set aside exclusively for universities into training halls—including union training halls—that provide practical skills leading to jobs building homes, bridges, pipelines, and other real infrastructure.
“We’ll ensure all those homes are in safe neighbourhoods. We will stop the crime by bringing in mandatory jail time—jail, not bail—for repeat offenders. We’ll scan shipping containers to secure our borders, keep drugs and guns out, and stop stolen cars from leaving our country.
“We’ll pay for all this by cancelling the ridiculous gun grab. Law-abiding, trained, and tested hunters and sport shooters will be able to keep their property.
“We’ll make sure the government works for you. We’ll ban our ministers from any involvement in the World Economic Forum. We’ll end censorship by scrapping Bills C-63 and C-11. We’ll cut foreign aid to dictators, terrorists, and global bureaucracies and put that money into our military so our forces can keep us strong and free, with a warrior culture, not a woke culture.
“We’ll make this country work for the people who do the work. You are those people. I wish to be your humble champion. Let’s bring home the Canada we knew and still love—where hard work gets you a powerful paycheck and a pension that buys affordable food and homes in safe neighbourhoods, where anyone from anywhere can do anything.
“The freest country on Earth—Canada. Let’s bring it home. Thank you!”
Poilievre’s campaign was described as being centred on freedom and reducing the cost of living. He stated his desire to make Canada the “freest country in the world.”
