Today, Premier Doug Ford declared a State of Emergency in Ontario, prohibiting gatherings of over 50 people. These are unprecedented times and we commend the Premier and his government for taking this important measure in the hopes of slowing the spread of COVID-19. It is a necessary action to protect the people of Ontario and to ease the burden on our front-line workers.
While this State of Emergency is in effect, the MTCC will be closed for the duration and we will be suspending all planning for OPSEU’s annual Convention, which is scheduled for May 21-23, 2020. Our Convention is our union’s highest-ranking authority, determining our ruling policies and constitutional motions. We’d like to emphasize that this is not a cancellation of the Convention, we are only suspending preparations until the situation becomes more clear.
One of the key takeaways from this crisis has been the importance of solidarity; to come together, despite being physically apart, to protect the lives of our fellow Canadians. We cannot say how long these emergency measures will be in place, but they are necessary to flatten the curve of this pandemic. In the meantime, we encourage all of our members to keep practicing social distancing and to self-isolate if you exhibit any flu symptoms.
We are all in this together; together, we will overcome this.
In Solidarity,
President, Warren (Smokey) Thomas
First Vice-President/Treasurer, Eduardo (Eddy) Almeida