A Heartfelt Thank You to Workers First Supporters

Ahmad Gaied
Nov 18, 2025
3 min read

Dear supporters and fellow workers,

Thank you! I can’t begin to express my deep sense of gratitude to all of you for what we’ve done together this week.

Whether you attended the Convention or not, showed support online or in person, or backed me publicly or privately, our collective efforts have defied expectations–including our own–and have demonstrated what’s possible when we organize from the bottom up.

Workers First isn’t just a slogan. It’s how we built our campaign, and it’s how we won.

In the last two weeks, I have been moved by how many of you stood up and spoke out about the kind of labour movement you want to build. Your courage has already made a huge difference. You have emboldened others to find their voice and you have further inspired and encouraged me.

This is the same courage we have to call upon, everywhere we see injustice: in our workplaces, in our communities, and in the House of Labour. When we speak out and tell the truth, we can make history.

Watching all of you step up–at the mics on Convention floor, in your affiliate Caucuses, or even on a Facebook post–I saw the future of the labour movement in Ontario. You lifted each other up, fostered confidence over fear, and chose principle over opportunity.

Real leadership is about inspiring others to take collective risks in conditions of uncertainty. With every risk we take, we can never know if we will be successful–that’s what makes it uncertain. But the more risks we take together, the more we inspire others to join us.

As the results show, it turns out that confidence and courage are also contagious.

I want to offer two lessons from all the last two weeks of campaigning:

First, the confidence we need to take risks is built on trust.

Taking the risk to speak out is easier when we do it together, and when we support each other while we’re doing it. Whatever battles we have along the way (all part of the process) must be handled with humility and grace, and with a readiness to learn from them.

This makes us stronger and more prepared for the next battle.

And as we do this, we don’t have to agree on every single issue, or hide differences about strategies and tactics. We have to have the difficult debates, and they have to be open and honest, where everyone gets to hear everything being said and the chance to disagree.

When we become better at debating–and disagreeing–among ourselves, our movement also becomes stronger.

Second, the confidence to take collective action for the things we believe in doesn’t usually begin as a majority opinion.

In fact, it’s usually the opposite, a minority opinion that might even be deeply unpopular. We all know from experience how many people discouraged us from doing what we did in this campaign.

But if we really believe in our principles, and in the capacity of others to come on side, once they see the full picture themselves, then we’re already half-way there.

The confidence we need to act must be built collectively, in struggle, and we grow it along the way.

That’s what we did from the start of this campaign to the moment the results flashed across the screen earlier today. It’s time we took the same approach to every fight we’re a part of, and commit to rebuild workers' confidence to fight, strike, and vote in our own best interests.

Today’s success belongs to every single one of us who supports and fought for the Workers First vision. But we still have a lot of work at the Convention this week.

Tomorrow will be an important discussion on the Power Plan. We should all do our best to help shape a bold and ambitious vision to unite our movement coming out of the Convention.

I encourage you to check out this campaign post, in which I propose some concrete actions we could take together to build a united, province-wide fightback against Ford in the coming months.

And don’t forget the many important resolutions yet to be debated–from Gaza to injured workers to the fight against transphobia, and so much more.

Finally, I want to offer my congratulations to President-elect Laura Walton and Executive Vice-President-elect Michael Hamilton, and to all the candidates who have stood, and who will be standing, in Convention elections this week. Shout-out to Jackie Taylor and Donna St. Louis for putting forward your vision in this campaign.

Regardless of the outcomes, we all need to work together to build a movement to defeat Ford: every member, every affiliate, and all those workers we have yet to meet.

Again, my deepest thanks to all of you for what we accomplished today. And let’s remember: we’re just getting started!

See you on the Convention floor.