I want to close my thanks with some of the staff that I work with every day: Johanne Pellikan, Danielle Letarte, Manon Lajoie, Tammy Emond and Natalie Rocque, who is presently on parental leave. They are outstanding workers and extremely committed to the work of our union.
I would like to recognize my family. However, a lot of them are not here today. Monday, I had the pleasure to have my daughter, Jade, who happened to be a CUPE member this summer. She was able to see, from the back to the front of this room, what we are. She was really impressed. I was quite pleased that she was able to see the work that we do and to see the democracy at work. I also had the pleasure to have my son, Gregory, present. He travelled back and forth in the different forums, until 11:00 p.m., as he wanted to understand what CUPE is really about. Claudette, my sister, was also present. She is a member of Local 1983 – the local that submitted resolution 195 and that we debated yesterday. I raise my hat to Local 1983 for having submitted this resolution because my sister, as a bus driver, was a victim of violence in the workplace. She is well represented by this union and I thank you for this.
There are three more people working very closely with me and who work in the capacity of executive assistants: Dennis Burke, our newest member who covers the geography of Canada and a million other things that make their way through the office; Susan Ruffo, a good friend who has been with me since day one and who takes care of multiple files in my office including our relations with the NDP, the CLC, and a number of provinces; and Gisèle Dupuis, who has been in the office for 26 years and the person who makes the wheels turn this week and every other week of the year in our office. I want to conclude by thanking Brother Claude and his staff. I work with Claude every day and he is diligent in watching over the finances of our union so we can use them to the maximum extent for the betterment of our union; and our four senior staff: Tammy Greaves, Managing Director, Finance and Administration; Josey Finley, Managing Director, Union Development; Jim Swaok, Managing Director, Organizing and Regional Services; and Stan Marshall, Managing Director, National Services. These are outstanding leaders who work day-in and day-out and are extremely loyal to all of you.
There are many other people I would like to thank. For instance, my mother, and I am very sorry that she is not able to be here today. As you know, I am a heath care worker, and forgive me for being emotional, but today I found out that she had cancer. There are presently other CUPE health care workers taking care of her in a facility as we speak. So mothers are mothers and we will always be their children. She wanted to ensure that her son had all of his attention to our convention. So, indeed, our mothers love us. Women are just wonderful – they can balance their life while thinking of others. I think of all this today and I want to thank you all.
I want to pledge to you that for the next two years, I will do my best to live up to the heights achieved by my predecessors, each of whom earned that very sacred thing within our union – the trust and the confidence of the membership of CUPE.
Thank you to Rita, my mother-in-law, and my spouse, Manon, who is also a CUPE member. I truly have a CUPE family – you my union and biological family. This is CUPE from top to bottom. I also have the pleasure to work with a hell of a good team at the office. However, when we start giving names, we forget some and that is regrettable. At the Toronto convention in 2007, I had announced that the two executive assistants that I worked so well with – Michael and Pam – were returning to their respective provinces: Michael in Québec and Pam in Manitoba. So, a lot of people have been asking me, “How come Pam and Michael are here?” Well, Robert Lamoureux returned to Toronto and Monique Joly retired. So, Pam and Michael came back. I had a lot of questions like, “How much did it cost you to convince them to come back?” Well, nothing, because they are so devoted to CUPE. They were getting bored of not working 9 days a week. Thank you!
If we exercise our power and our influence on behalf of the membership, we cannot help but make a stronger Canada and a stronger world. Thank you.
ELECTION OF THE NATIONAL SECRETARY-TREASURER Sister Nancy Riche, Chief Electoral Officer, declared nominations open for the position of National SecretaryTreasurer, in accordance with the provisions of Article 11 of the CUPE Constitution. Brother Claude Généreux was acclaimed and duly sworn in.
There are so many other people to thank: Tammy Greaves, Managing Director of Finance and Administration; Paulette Charbonneau, my administrative assistant; Monique Bélair,
CLAUDE GÉNÉREUX (National Secretary-Treasurer Elect): I would like to take a few minutes to thank the people that we work with and the people that we love and with whom we try to have a decent life with.
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