(The following article is from the April 16-30, 2009, 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.)


     As economic chaos brought on by unchecked corporate greed sweeps the capitalist world, working people in British Columbia face a crucial choice: retreat... or fight back, like our sisters and brothers in other countries! We can start on May 12, by kicking out the Campbell Liberals and their anti‑people policies. But this must become part of a much broader struggle to build a powerful movement for a "People's Alternative" to corporate greed. It won't be easy, but we need to win fundamental political and economic change. Your vote for a Communist Party candidate is a vote for a socialist future, our only hope for human survival!


     Across the world, policies like those of the Campbell Liberals have worsened capitalism's cyclical bust. Right-wing governments and big capital want to impose pay cuts and attacks on labour rights. Mountains of taxpayer dollars are handed to failed banks, while workers get peanuts. Billions of people suffer from hunger and disease, while US imperialism and its allies waste a trillion dollars every year on war and armaments. Here in Canada, the Harper budget helps wealthy shareholders, but two‑thirds of jobless workers can't collect the EI benefits we all pay for.

     Like the Harper Tories in Ottawa, Gordon Campbell and his gang want to protect corporations. They say the economic crisis is just a temporary problem for the so‑called "greatest place on earth."

     But for workers, Aboriginal people, women, seniors, renters, students, and many others, the reality is very different. This government has shown contempt for workers by unilaterally ripped up collective bargaining agreements.B.C. has the highest child poverty in Canada, and an appalling $6 "training wage". Almost 200,000 British Columbians are jobless as more plants and mills shut down. Homelessness hits new records every year. Schools and day cares are closing across the province. Rents and housing costs are astronomical. Resource industries which sustained working people for generations have been gutted, leaving environmental devastation for our children. The Campbell government's attacks on women's equality have been exposed by United Nations committees, and promises of a new deal for Aboriginal peoples are repeatedly delayed or forgotten in the race to exploit unceded indigenous territories.

     In short, the Campbell Liberals have been a disaster for the great majority of British Columbians. The Premier took office with a billion‑dollar tax break for top income brackets, and massive layoffs for public employees. Ever since, his policies have widened the gap between the rich and working people.

     The collapse and sellout of the salmon fishery, the massive export of raw logs, and the decline of energy prices have led to an enormous provincial deficit. Thousands live on the street, while governments pour six billion dollars into the Winter Olympics. Yet Campbell plans to stay the course: lower corporate taxes, more cuts to social spending, and a drive to sell off more public assets. Stick with us, they say, and things will soon get better.

     This is a lie. Realistic economists warn that the global crisis may last for years. Nor will British Columbians benefit from another dose of the pro‑business agenda which helped spark the capitalist meltdown.


     It's time to say, "workers didn't cause this crisis, and we won't pay for it!" Across the planet, people are fighting back, in the streets and workplaces, and at the polls. We call upon the organized labour movement to rally in defense of the working class and to support progressive candidates who are willing to fight on these issues.

     In this election, the Communist Party of BC calls for emergency action by all levels of government to protect working people:

‑ stop the exodus of manufacturing jobs and secondary industry;

‑ expand EI to cover all workers for the full duration of unemployment, with benefits at 90% of former earnings;

‑ a moratorium on evictions, mortgage foreclosures and utility cut‑offs due to unemployment;

‑ a shorter work week with no loss in pay or cuts to public services;

‑ emergency action to improve the social and economic conditions of Aboriginal peoples;

‑ massive public investment to construct affordable social housing, rebuild municipal infrastructure, and protect and conserve the environment;

‑ progressive tax reform based on ability to pay;

‑ protect and extend public healthcare, education and other social programs, including a universal, quality, affordable childcare system.


‑ democratic nationalization of the big banks, insurance and other financial institutions;

‑ public ownership energy and natural resources, to provide the material basis for rebuilding Canadian industry and the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs;

‑ withdrawal from NAFTA and the war in Afghanistan.



End contracting out of public services and transportation. Hold a public inquiry into the corrupt sale of BC Rail; restore public ownership and passenger service for northern and central communities. Stop P3 projects in the health, education and transportation sectors. Halt the "Run of the Rivers" giveaway to private interests; restore BC Hydro's role as provider of public energy. Cancel the Accenture contract and independent water licenses; reintegrate BC Transmission Corporation back into BC Hydro. Ban raw log exports and legislate the processing of timber locally for export as lumber or value added products under public ownership and control.


Reverse the tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. Raise social assistance rates by 50% and peg to inflation. Build 5000 new low‑income and social housing units annually and restore public support for co‑op and other non‑profit housing alternatives. Impose strict rent controls; end the "geographic increase" loophole and limit increases to inflation. Ban evictions for the purpose of renovation.


Raise the minimum wage to $16/hour, indexed to the cost of living, and end the "training wage". Restore the 15% wage rollback imposed on health care workers. Legislate improved working conditions and scheduling for forestry workers. Guarantee full Labour Code protections for agricultural labourers and migrant workers.


Stop removal of lands from the Agricultural Land Reserve. Support genuine measures to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Scrap the Gateway Project in favour of investments in public transit. Replace the appointed Translink board with an elected, accountable, democratic body representing transit users and the public. Institute a $1 single zone fare for the Lower Mainland, and upgrade transit shelters and washrooms.


Act to halt police violence and deaths in custody, and implement full public oversight of police operations. Remove guns and Tasers from transit police. Cops who break laws must be criminally charged.


Legislate full recognition of Aboriginal title to unceded territories. Put all necessary resources into solving the cases of missing women across BC. Restore funding for women's centres; reverse the attacks on women's equality reported by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination.


Eliminate tuition, provide grants for post‑scondary students. Expand apprenticeship programs. Fund public education on a needs basis, including for all special needs and ESL students; eliminate the FSA tests; complete seismic upgrades of all schools by 2020. Lower the voting age to 16. Ban military recruiting in schools.


Stop funding massive Olympics cost over‑runs, and end security force harassment of protests against the Olympics. Scrap TILMA, the so‑called "Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement." Support a democratic Mixed‑Member proportional representation system (MMP) for BC, not the unsuitable STV proposal.