(The following article is from the June 16-30, 2008, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Vancouver Bureau

Delegates from the Okanagan region, Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland met in Vancouver over the May 31-June 1 weekend, for the 37th B.C. provincial convention of the Communist Party of Canada. George Gidora, who has served as the party's British Columbia leader since the mid-1990s, was re-elected as part of a thirteen-member provincial committee.

     Much of the debate at the convention focused on the deteriorating position of working people across British Columbia. Despite the corporate media reports of "economic growth," the emerging capitalist economic crisis is hammering much of the province. Mass layoffs and cutbacks are particularly acute in communities which depend on forestry and fishing. The latest figures include the loss of some 10,000 west coast forestry jobs over the past couple of years, a trend which matches the falling manufacturing and secondary industry employment in Ontario, Quebec and other provinces. Official employment levels have remained fairly high, but most of the "new" jobs come with much lower pay rates, and many are part-time or temporary.

     The boom in resource prices and real estate values has led to even wider wealth gaps in British Columbia. In Vancouver, the most expensive penthouse condos now cost over $20 million, just a few blocks from the Downtown Eastside, where thousands of people are homeless or forced to exist on a few hundred dollars a month in tiny, bug-infested single rooms. Delegates slammed the provincial and federal governments for pouring billions of dollars into showcase extravaganzas like the 2010 Winter Olympics, instead of building low-income housing or improving public education.

     The convention adopted a series of special resolutions, including several condemning the Campbell government's attacks on democracy and its latest moves to undermine universal healthcare. Another resolution supported the campaign by the labour and peace movements to honour Kanuko Laskey, a Hiroshima bombing survivor who played an important role in B.C. campaigns for nuclear disarmament. The delegates also condemned the Harper Tory government's Bill C-50 as a continuation of the racist, anti-immigrant policies which began with the Asian exclusion laws of the 20th century and the shameful Komagata Maru incident of 1914, in which hundreds of Indian immigrants were barred from landing in Vancouver.

     Taking part in the convention were several members of the newest organization of the Communist Party, the Upper Fraser Valley Club, formed in May and based mainly in the local South Asian community. Reports from delegates indicated that 2008 has seen an increase in membership applications, along with a 15% growth in People's Voice subscriptions across the province.

     The main policy resolution adopted by the convention calls for Communist candidates in the May 2009 provincial election, and work will begin soon to consider nominations and finalize a campaign platform.

     Other highlights of the convention included an address by Communist Party of Canada leader Miguel Figueroa, who spoke on the international and domestic political situation, and a report by Nazir Rizvi on the recent congresses of India's two main communist parties, at which he represented the CPC.

     The new B.C. provincial committee will meet on June 29 to elect its executive and to begin making detailed plans for the party's work over the summer and fall.