(The following article is from the October 16-31, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 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

Nearing the first anniversary of last fall's electoral shift in Vancouver, the unique role of the Coalition of Progressive Electors is increasingly apparent. At the City Council level, COPE's Ellen Woodsworth and David Cadman are winning recognition for their efforts to hold the governing Vision Vancouver majority to pro-people policies. And at the Vancouver School Board (VSB), the Vision-COPE majority has played a major part in building province-wide opposition to education funding cuts imposed by the Campbell Liberal government.

     Several motions brought or amended by Cadman and Woodsworth won support at the recent annual meeting of the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM).

     The first resolution, brought by COPE Councillor Woodsworth to Vancouver City Council in June, asked for arts investment to be reinstated by the provincial and federal governments as part of an economic stimulus plan. It passed with unanimous consent at the UBCM on Sept. 30.

     The second COPE-supported motion, calling for a national housing strategy, was passed with an overwhelming majority. Initially collapsed into another motion about using pine beetle to build new houses, Councillor Woodsworth worked with housing advocates to get it back on the floor as a stand-alone motion.

     Another motion, amended by Councillor Cadman at Vancouver City Council, which calls on the provincial government to get rid of the HST, was passed by the UBCM.

     "Vancouver has said abandon the HST and now the UBCM has called on the provincial government to abandon the HST," said Cadman. "It is time for the provincial government to listen to the people of British Columbia and abandon this tax grab that will cost the average British Columbian an additional $800 and stall BC's recession recovery."

     On Sept. 30, COPE school trustee Jane Bouey, who is also vice-chairperson of the VSB, took part in a news conference with other progressive trustees Chak Au (Richmond), Susan Skinner (North Vancouver) and Diana Mumford (Burnaby) to call attention to the dire situation faced by school boards. The trustees were joined by NDP MLAs Robin Austin, Diane Thorne, and Jenny Kwan.

     While Vancouver and other districts are attempting to protect classroom learning, Bouey warned that next year will be even worse. According to Bouey, "arguments by the provincial government that they are, in fact, increasing funding to education are incredibly misleading. It's like telling your child that you're raising their allowance, but that now, they have to pay rent."

     Additional costs downloaded onto school boards include cancellation of the annual facilities grant, the HST (which could mean an addition million dollar cut in Vancouver alone), rising MSP premiums which must be paid by school boards, the cost of supplies to combat a potential outbreak of the H1N1 virus, and cuts to Parent Advisory Councils.

     According to Trustee Bouey, "unlike the provincial government itself, school boards aren't allowed to run deficits. Next year, we may find that we aren't able to make the devastating cuts that are being asked of us. Investing in the education sector is a great economic stimulus, and instead, we have a government massacring public education."