The President of Teamsters Canada and the top leadership in Canada have formed a “Team Canada” slate for the 2021 IBT election. The slate consists of the current three elected Canadian leaders on the General Executive Board (GEB): Teamsters Canada President Francois LaPorte, and International VPs Stan Hennessy and Craig McInnis.

This slate of three will be standing for election among the 112,000 Canadian Teamsters. 

There are 24 positions on the GEB up for election by all Teamsters at large or in the four US regions: East, South, Central and West. The O’Brien Zuckerman Teamsters United slate has 24 candidates running for all those positions. The Vairma Slate has named 17 candidates so far. 

Since the Team Canada slate is running for the Canadian positions, and the O’Brien Zuckerman Teamsters United slate is not putting up any candidates for those offices, the two slates are non-competitive. 

Teamsters Canada operates under the Teamsters Constitution and Election Rules, but is self-governing with its own leadership, political positions, and direction. 

At the 1981 IBT Convention, Canadian delegates associated with TDU first proposed that the IBT Constitution include respect for Canadian sovereignty, but the proposal was shot down. Later, after members won the Right to Vote, Canadian sovereignty was written into the IBT Constitution as Article XXVI, in recognition of the distinct political, cultural, legal, social institutions of the Canadian nation, and its French and English heritage and languages.