The BC Legislative Building in Victoria.
The Council of Canadians Vancouver/Burnaby chapter is encouraging people to vote for candidates who will create more jobs in sustainable ways, reduce poverty, tax fairly, increase climate justice, strengthen public health, restore BC Ferries as a crown corporation, and enhance democracy.
Chapter activist Penny Tilby tells us, “Over the past four weeks our chapter distributed 1100 leaflets outlining some of the key issues we want people to consider in voting in our provincial election. On the whole the information was well received.”
Tilby highlights, “These were given out at a couple of all-candidate meetings in Burnaby, but the majority were distributed in the Vancouver community at transit hubs and malls. The aim was to reach as many of the general public as possible and not just the already politically interested people who come to meetings.”
The chapter’s leaflet says:
For a BC with more job opportunities, better social programs, higher income equality, and stronger democracy, please VOTE for the candidate who will –
1– Create more BC jobs by investing in ambitious climate action plans; revitalizing the forest industry; building affordable rental housing; hiring more teachers, nurses, childcare workers, and home care workers; and instituting a just transition strategy for retraining workers for jobs in a low-carbon, sustainable economy.
2– Reduce poverty by providing livable social assistance and disability benefits; introducing $10 per day childcare; increasing minimum wage to $15 per hour; and implementing the recommendations of Grand Chief Ed John’s report to improve conditions for Indigenous
children on- and off-reserve
3– Tax fairly to pay for needed programs by ensuring that corporations and wealthy citizens pay their share of the tax burden. Corporations and the wealthy benefit from infrastructure and subsidies, paid for by taxes, to support their businesses; their tax burden should be in line with the profits enjoyed.
4– Increase climate justice by developing sustainable energy initiatives, always in consultation with affected communities and recognizing Indigenous rights; implementing policy to reduce our dependence on oil, lower natural gas emissions, and decrease water pollution; and shrinking our carbon footprint – no new oil and LNG pipelines.
5– Strengthen public health by eliminating MSP premiums; pressing for a national public drug plan; increasing mental health services and home care services for seniors; and creating healthy living conditions for those living on-reserve.
6– Restore BC Ferries by returning it to crown corporation status so that it operates only in the public interest as an integral part of the public transit system and not as a ‘for-profit’ agency.
7– Enhance democracy by banning corporate and union donations to political parties and by passing anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) legislation to prevent corporations from launching frivolous law suits intended to silence and bankrupt activists.
The provincial election takes place on May 9.
The Council of Canadians is a non-partisan organization that endorses no political party, but rather is committed to building a peoples’ movement capable of holding any government accountable to the public interest.
#bcelxn17
