Are we here for a good time, Dave Barrett the new Premier asked at his first cabinet meeting. The answer was yes! Fifty years ago in the fall of 1972, the first NDP government in BC set to work on a powerful program of change to improve life for most in BC. A Landslide Victory […]
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Written by Socialist Alternative members in Ontario. But The Fight Is Not Over Yet In one week, Ontario’s Conservative government went from an all-out attack on union rights to backing down. Monday, November 7 was a dramatic day in Ontario’s CUPE strike. In the morning, Premier Doug Ford’s press conference indicated he would be willing […]
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Written by Socialist Alternative members in Ontario. On October 30, the Ford government announced legislation that would make it illegal for 55,000 education workers in the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) to go on strike on Friday, November 4. Stephen Lecce, Ontario’s Minister of Education, announced the emergency legislation on Halloween but he certainly […]
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The New Democratic Party (and its pre-1961 predecessor, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation) was once a party with relatively healthy internal democracy and a relatively active membership. While never more than a social-democratic party, it kept its base engaged through riding association meetings, workplace activity through unions, and literal kitchen-table talks in big cities and small […]
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Written by BC Public Sector workers. Only a slim majority of BCGEU’s members voted to ratify the recent agreement with the BC government. According to the union, 71 percent of the 32,600 members voted and only 53.4 percent voted Yes. The difference between the number of yes and no votes is around 1,500 members. This […]
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The new leader of the misnamed United Conservative Party and the new premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith, has been propelled to power by insurgent right populism in the party. The leadership race revealed a deep split in the party, where Smith won by just 53.8 percent on the sixth count of the votes, compared to […]
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What started out as a very confusing election ended up with a clear result. A triumph for a new right-wing party – ABC. ABC’s mayoral candidate, Ken Sim, won an absolute majority of the votes cast, 51 percent, 85,732 votes compared to former Mayor Stewart’s 49,593 votes. All ABC’s seven council candidates were elected, as […]
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Doug McCallum was defeated as Surrey Mayor, losing to former colleague Brenda Locke. Locke has promised to reverse the establishment of a separate Surrey police force, which will add further burden Surrey’s budget. Neither the RCMP nor Surrey Police is the answer, what is needed is democratic control over the police. Locke on other issues […]
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The Coalition for Progressive Electors (COPE) – Vancouver’s political party for renters and workers – hosted a Rally for Rent Control, on October 2. Incumbent city councillor Jean Swanson (COPE) shared a platform with Seattle’s Socialist Alternative city councillor, Kshama Sawant and other COPE candidates. Jean offered “huge thanks” to “Kshama for the solidarity she’s […]
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“‘It’s going to bankrupt health care’: Spending on temp agency nurses up more than 550% since pre-pandemic at one Toronto hospital network,” ran the headline in the Toronto Star. “Ontario isn’t ruling out privatization in health care,” was a headline on CBC News. Temp Agency Nursing is Privatization Given the shortage of 15,000 nurses since […]
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