Lauren Sacks: Canadian unions should know socialism never ends well

CUPE Local 1182 and supporters take part in an information picket outside Extendicare York in Sudbury, Ont. on Tuesday August 18, 2026. A release from CUPE said the union representing workers at Extendicare York is calling attention to the continued delays at the bargaining table. John Lappa/Sudbury Star/Postmedia Network

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The resurgence of socialism in the United States, mainly through the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), should serve as a warning to Canadians. Ideas once associated with Soviet socialism and later cultivated in Western activist movements and university campuses, are increasingly finding their way into mainstream campaigns and electoral victories in the United States.

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This ideological movement does not end at our border. A small, highly organized group of anti-capitalist activists has gained influence within parts of Canada’s public-sector labour movement. They may not be operating directly through the DSA, but the playbook is similar: using the resources and the political power of labour unions to advance an anti-capitalist agenda.

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This should concern Canadians as history has shown us what unchecked socialist power can lead to — repression, economic ruin and the loss of individual freedom. These consequences stem from the concentration of economic and political power at the expense of private enterprise and individual choice. Socialism views capitalism as a driver of inequality and moral evil, favouring greater government intervention. It uses the language of class solidarity, anti-oppression, social justice, equity and collective action — language increasingly reflected in the principles of social unionism within parts of Canada’s public-sector labour movement.

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For socialists, this means that unions are no longer simply about bargaining collective agreements; they are vehicles for fighting capitalism and driving broader political and social change. Social unionism reflects this expanded role, positioning unions as vehicles for activism beyond the workplace.

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The growing relationship between Canada’s public-sector labour movement and anti-capitalism is illustrated by Avi Lewis. Lewis decisively won the NDP leadership in March on a more radical, socialist platform than previous NDP party leaders, advocating for publicly owned grocery stores, public phone and internet utilities, and a state-run housing developer.

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Lewis’s socialist agenda found a powerful ally in parts of Canada’s public-sector labour movement. Before winning the NDP leadership, he secured endorsements from CUPE Ontario, multiple CUPE locals, a PSAC local and the Peel Regional Labour Council (PRLC), which includes members of CUPE, ETFO, OSSTF and United Steelworkers.

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Everywhere you look now, socialism appears to be embedded in union policy. CUPE Ontario’s drafted Action Plan from May, for example, advocates for greater government intervention, organizing political campaigns, pursuing “climate justice,” participating in international solidarity campaigns, and organizing political activism beyond the workplace.

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It’s also not completely new. In 2016, the CUPW President openly advocated for socialism, declaring that capitalism could not solve society’s crises and called for a “democratically controlled economy.” Later, in 2020, CUPW congratulated Bolivians for “restoring the Movement for Socialism.”