PV staff
British Columbians head to the polls on October 19, but for the most part working people are faced with limited options.
Premier David Eby’s BC NDP is campaigning on its record and is set to stay the course of minor reforms while shoveling bucketloads of public money into the fossil fuel industry. The Green Party under Sonia Furstenau promotes “wellbeing and happiness” but fails in the slightest to challenge capitalist economic control. John Rustad’s Conservative is pushing a right populist platform based on bigotry, which provides cover for their commitment to increased corporate profiteering.
If voters were hoping the October 8 leaders’ debate would liven things up, they were sorely disappointed. As Communist Party of BC (CPBC) leader Kimball Cariou told People’s Voice, “if the ‘big debate’ showed anything, it’s that the NDP lacks a true progressive platform – they were even weaker than the Greens.”
The Conservatives, meanwhile, have been remodeling the polarizing figure of their leader John Rustad into a drab, inoffensive version of himself that the mainstream media can promote as the way forward. As part of this exercise, the party has even reworked significant parts of its platform mid-campaign. Press Progress reported on October 2 that Conservatives had “scrubbed large sections of their website’s policy page … [and] replaced its original platform with a scaled down version that outright removed sections on big issues like education, law and order, homelessness and drug policy.”
Press Progress notes that the removed sections amount to almost half of the original platform and contain promises which specifically appeal to the far right and social conservatives. Scrubbed policies include commitments to “oppose identity politics” and “remove ideology from classrooms,” as well as a promise to protect monuments honouring colonial figures.
Cariou (see photo) who is running in the Vancouver-Strathcona riding, is concerned that this hides the Conservatives’ real policies and lets them get off scot-free. “The Conservatives are getting a free ride from the corporate media, despite Rustad’s far-right links,” he told PV.
While the leaders’ debate was frustratingly leaden, Cariou said that Communist Party candidates are getting a great response at public forums. “We are only running three candidates this election, but even three communists can light things up! Working people perk up and respond enthusiastically when we talk about our analysis of what’s happening and promote our policies for real progressive change.”
Those policies include expanding public healthcare to include pharmacare, vision and dental care, as well as mental health and addiction rehabilitation. “The government must commit to training enough family doctors and nurses to meet the needs of everyone in the province,” said CPBC organizer Rob Crooks, who is running in Victoria-Swan Lake.
Crooks, who is a long-time organizer for tenants’ rights, also pointed to the Communist Party’s housing policy as critically important. “Housing is a human right. When it becomes a commodity for personal and especially corporate enrichment, we end up with a massive crisis like we see now. We need to roll back rents so that nobody has to pay more than 20 percent of household income on housing. BC needs to provide more truly affordable housing – we propose building 100,000 units of new and renovated social and low-income public housing.”
Industrial painter Ryan Abbott, the CPBC candidate in Surrey, said people are telling him that jobs and incomes are a key issue. “Working people are struggling with soaring living costs – we need to raise the minimum wage to $23 and keep it fully adjusted to inflation,” he told PV. “Workers also need greater security, including 100 percent recall rights and wage protection when they’re on layoff.” Abbott adds that the Communist Party would strengthen labour rights by protecting and expanding the right to picket and extending full labour protections to domestic, agricultural and migrant workers.”
The CPBC is also campaigning for better public education including increased public funding by $1000 per student, and end to funding and tax breaks to private and religious schools, and the full implementation of SOGI-123 (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) policies in all school districts. The Party calls for rolling back tuition for post-secondary education.
The Communist Party is promoting a suite of policies aimed at climate justice. “We need to cut hydrocarbon emissions now,” says Crooks. “And that means canceling public subsidies to the LNG and fossil fuel industry – something the NDP has refused to do.” Coupled with this approach, the CPBC wants free public transit for all and an accessible province-wide transit system. Crooks says that workers urgently need the government to implement a just transition program, “to retrain fossil fuel sector workers for other jobs at union wages.”
Related to climate action is the question of justice for Indigenous peoples. “BC’s Bill 41, the ‘Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act,’ commits BC to getting prior, informed consent from Indigenous peoples before development on their territory. But this is repeatedly violated when it comes to the interests of the fossil fuel corporations,” said Cariou. “We support the ‘Land Back’ demand – there can be no extraction or infrastructure projects on Indigenous lands without full consultation and approval.”
The CPBC candidates are also pushing for full equality and democratic rights. Says Abbott, “the province needs to restore funding to women’s centres and programs, take swift and decisive action to protect the 2S/LGBTQ+ community, and get on with building the universal, affordable and public childcare system that working families desperately need.”
In addition to calling for radical immediate reforms, the Communist Party campaign includes building the fight for socialism. “It’s not enough to criticize the injustices of capitalism,” says Cariou. “We have to get rid of this private profit system and build a socialist future. People have a chance in this election to build the left in BC. Voting for Communist Party candidates is one important step in the struggle to end exploitation, oppression and environmental destruction, and to build a sustainable and just world.”
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