Category Archives: BC Politics

Keith Baldrey: The NDP sharks are circling

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By Keith Baldrey       Global News     August 29, 2013 8:23 pm

When then-premier Mike Harcourt’s government was engulfed in scandal and controversy in the mid-1990s, speculation began to build on whether he could hang on as leader.

There was mounting tension within the NDP caucus over his leadership, but no one was speaking out publicly about that elephant in the room. At the time, an NDP cabinet minister told me: “There’s blood in the water, but so far no sharks.”

Well, there is blood in the water once again when it comes to an NDP leader’s hold on the job and there are indeed sharks in the party who smell that blood. Ironically, Harcourt is now one of those sharks.

Harcourt has become the latest in a growing crowd of NDP notables calling on embattled NDP leader Adrian Dix to step down. He told the Globe and Mail’s Gary Mason it was time for him to go, and his public criticism puts even more pressure on Dix to throw in the towel.

Former NDP cabinet ministers Ian Waddell and Bob Williams (both once close to Dix), ex-party president Sav Dhaliwal, and former MLAs David Schreck and Guy Gentner preceded Harcourt in calling on Dix to quit.

Interestingly and perhaps more telling is that no NDP notable, past or present, has publicly called on Dix to stay on as leader. His own caucus has offered only tepid support for him, with members saying they are confident Dix will “reflect” on his situation and “come to a decision.”

Even one of his closest associates, MLA John Horgan, would not say out loud that Dix should stay as leader in a lengthy scrum with reporters at the end of the recent legislature session. While Horgan didn’t exactly throw Dix under

the bus, he parked it close by. And now Harcourt has moved that bus even nearer. Unless key people in the party start issuing public calls for Dix to continue, it won’t be long before he pulls the plug himself. Dix’s leadership is bleeding, and sharks like Harcourt and others are starting to fill up the NDP pool.

The board of directors at BC Ferries has once again displayed a key flaw in the model the B.C. Liberals came up with to govern the company soon after the 2001 election.

The board has approved large salary hikes and bonuses for senior executives, even though the provincial government is about to reduce service levels on many of its routes while at the same time increasing the taxpayer subsidy to the company.

The strange private/public hybrid that is BC Ferries is trying to have it both ways: insisting on operating as a private entity, yet sticking its hand into the public trough, looking for more cash. The board has long argued it models the company on private sector companies, and not Crown corporations. Yet no other “private” company gets a subsidy of close to $200 million a year from the provincial government. Without that subsidy, the company would have to make massive service cuts or it would, on paper, suffer a huge monetary loss. So the board’s directors (who also created controversy a few years ago for paying themselves much higher fees than any other Crown’s board) have made a politically tone-deaf decision, which many frustrated ferry users will undoubtedly unfavourably contrast with constantly rising fares and looming service cuts.

The company’s private/public model has made Transportation Minister Todd Stone look weak, as he’s expressed dissatisfaction with the bonuses yet appears powerless to do anything about it (which is a bizarre situation for a cabinet minister to be in when you consider how much money his government gives to that company each year).

If the BC Ferries’ board keeps making decisions that blow back politically on the provincial government, don’t be surprised if that government changes the model for the company yet again.

The current model was created on Gordon Campbell’s watch. Premier Christy Clark has shown a willingness to revisit other Campbell legacies (raising both the minimum wage and corporate taxes, for example) and she may take another look at this one as well.

Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC.

NDP delegates to zero in on leadership

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by Carlito Pablo on Aug 28, 2013   http://www.straight.com

Adrian Dix is facing a leadership review in November.    Picture: Yolande Cole

Some New Democrats are getting an early start on their fall convention.

On the weekend following Labour Day, three of the four B.C. NDP constituency associations on the North Shore will elect delegates to the November convention at which Adrian Dix will face a leadership review.

Members from North Vancouver–Seymour, North Vancouver–Lonsdale, and West Vancouver–Capilano will hold a joint meeting on September 7 and choose their respective delegates, according to David Schreck.

The former B.C. NDP representative for North Vancouver–Lonsdale expects talk during the gathering to zero in on the fates of Dix, who failed to lead New Democrats to victory in this year’s provincial election, and party president Moe Sihota.

“People know that the leadership of the party screwed up, and somebody has to pay for that,” Schreck told the Straight by phone.

A panel is holding a review of the B.C. NDP’s loss, and its report will be taken up at the convention. “People don’t want to be told that really everything is okay, that voters made a mistake,” Schreck said.

Dix has taken the summer off to ponder his future.

Support staff strike may disrupt back-to-school season

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by Carla Knipe on 25 Aug 2013  http://thenelsondaily.com

Support staff strike may disrupt back-to-school season

West Kootenay public school students may be gearing up for a new year of classes, but the support staff who work within those schools are bracing themselves for a potential strike, according to Castlegar’s Cherryl MacLeod.

MacLeod works as an education assistant as well as serving as president of CUPE Local 1285, representing both the East and West Kootenays in these negotiations.

She said support staff, which includes custodial and clerical staff, education assistants and bus drivers, have been negotiating with the provincial government for an improved collective agreement ever since it expired 14 months ago. CUPE representatives from across the province have travelled to Vancouver many times since then to negotiate a new contract but those negotiations have been unsuccessful. Support staff in 55 out of 57 CUPE locals voted for strike action in June but have still tried to negotiate collectively.

MacLeod said she is hopeful that the government will summon CUPE representatives back to Vancouver at the beginning of September for another round of talks – but if that does not happen, school support staff will walk off the job by mid-September.

MacLeod says that a strike is a last resort.

“Believe me, we don’t want to have to turn children away from attending school,” she said. “In small towns like Castlegar, we know parents personally. We know that a strike would affect families a great deal. People like to think a strike is just about money, but there are other reasons, such as issues surrounding school calendars and cuts in hours, which we have been facing for a long time.”

She conceded, however, that wages are a large part of contract discussions – and a subject the provincial government is unwilling to address.

“All we are asking is to be treated fairly, like other public sector workers are. Our last wage adjustment was in 2009 and the cost of living has gone up a lot since then, but our wages haven’t,” MacLeod said, adding the average salary of an education assistant is $24,000/year. “That’s not much above the poverty line. We have single parents in support staff positions who are finding it tougher to earn a living wage.”

Because contracts are bargained province-wide, not just locally, a strike would mean support staff across British Columbia would walk off the job. MacLeod also says that Andy Davidoff, president of the Kootenay Columbia Teachers’ Union, has told her that local teachers would respect the picket lines and not cross them, which means schools in the West Kootenay would shut down altogether.

There’s still a possibility strike action will be averted – if not, British Columbia’s students will face a disrupted academic year just as they return to school after summer vacation.

B.C. spill advisory committee dominated by industry

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August 26, 2013   http://www.bcndp.ca 

herbert

VICTORIA — While briefing documents show the province’s oil spill response regime is already inadequate, the B.C. Liberal response is to stack the advisory committee tasked with fixing it with representatives from the oil industry, say B.C.’s New Democrats.

“Before the election, the Liberals claimed that diverse stakeholders would be involved in oil spill response preparedness planning, and even invited a broad range of groups to participate in a symposium on the issue,” said New Democrat environment critic Spencer Chandra Herbert. “Yet now, after the election, it’s a different story: with the exception of First Nations representation, their advisory groups are almost entirely composed of people promoting the industry they are meant to be regulating.”

Documents obtained from the environment ministry by New Democrats show that the government’s oil spill advisory committee and working groups are heavily dominated by the oil industry, with 80 per cent of the members of the advisory committee, and nearly everyone on the three working groups, representing oil industry interests.

“The government is allowing the oil industry to dominate the discussion, when a major spill would devastate not only our environment but other key industries like fishing and tourism, whose interests should be represented at the table,” said Chandra Herbert.

Chandra Herbert also raised concerns about briefing materials prepared for the new environment minister and revealed through a freedom of information request this week showing the province is ill-equipped to handle even a moderate spill. Ministry officials warn that the province “is not adequately staffed and resourced to meet the existing and emerging expectations to address spills,” and suggest that even a moderate-sized spill “would overwhelm the province’s ability to respond and could result in a significant liability for government.”

“How long has the government known that it is unable to respond to oil spills in this province? How do they square this with their continued assurances about industry safety? And what are they doing to advocate for better resources from Ottawa?” asked Chandra Herbert.

“When it comes to sustainable development, this government hasn’t delivered on its promises, and their oil spill response program is another sad example. Again and again, they have failed to stand up for our environment.”

New Democrats are calling on the government to fulfill its promise of sustainable development, starting with a strong spill response regime that protects the interests of all British Columbians.

Members of the advisory committee and the three advisory groups can be found at the link below:

spill_response_committees.pdf

CUPE’s education workers launch new ad campaign to build support

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By Amy Judd Global News   http://globalnews.ca   August 25, 2013

CUPE’s education workers are reaching out to the public with a new ad campaign focused on building support for the members who voted to strike in the fall after talks broke off.

CUPE represents more than 27,000 education workers in the K-12 system, including education assistants, clerical staff, trades, custodians, and bus drivers.

Their collective agreements expired more than a year ago, and while settlement talks took place in April, talks derailed shortly after.

The ad campaign will officially launch on Monday and is focused on standing up for clean, safe, and inclusive schools.

“We’ve made every effort to bargain a fair and reasonable settlement with the employers, but their lack of preparation is threatening to disrupt classes this fall,” said Mark Hancock, CUPE-BC President.

It has been more than four years since workers represented by CUPE have received a wage increase.

“If the government doesn’t show a commitment to bargaining, our members will take full-scale job action,” said Colin Pawson, Chair of the BC K-12 Presidents’ Council. “They’re frustrated that we’ve had three false starts to negotiating, and the clock is ticking.”

© Shaw Media, 2013