mapletour

It’s hard to believe that the Maple Tour, our national speaking tour featuring myself, former CLASSE spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois and former CLASSE executive Cloé Zawadzki-Turcotte, kicked off less than a week ago. For the three of us, this week has been so chock full of excitment and inspiration, it feels like a month.

From London to Toronto to Saskatoon to Regina to Winnipeg to Victoria we have spoken to large crowds, made so many new friends, and tried to share the inspiring story of a genuine success story in the fight against austerity.

Tonight, we are looking forward to our best event yet. A full house is expected at the W2 Media Cafe in Vancouver this evening at 7PM for the final date on our tour, and what local activists have billed as a victory party. 

For those outside of Vancouver, rabbletv will host a livestream of the event tonight. 

For a preview of what we have been talking about during the tour, I invite you to read this incredible, and incisive, article written by Gabriel, explaining his vision of a national fight against austerity.

As I write these words I am on a ferry, rapidly approaching the dock in Vancouver, so I will be brief of neccessity. Once the tour is over I’ll have time to reflect, and put the maelstrom of emotions this tour has brought out in me to paper.

For now, we have one last event to look forward to. If you are in Vancouver, I hope you can join us this evening. Simply log onto the site at 7PM PST for a live window into our Maple Tour.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our national sponsors, without whose generous support this tour would not have been possible. Strong activist unions, who believe in movement building, are sorely needed in this country. The Communications Energy and Paperworkers union (CEP), and the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW), fit the bill and their support is greatly appreciated.

rabble.ca, LeadNow.ca and the Council of Canadians also stepped up to help us mount this tour, as did dozens of union locals, community organizations, student unions and dedicated local organizers across the country. In particular, we would like to thank the lovely folks who housed us at each stop, we felt like family everywhere we went.

I hope to see you tonight, in person or virtually (on Twitter, follow #MapleTour). We also look forward to an amazing party after the event, where we can have more in-depth conversations with local activists.

Thank you finally to all who came out to an event, or followed the tour. Together, we CAN stop austerity.