A Provisional  Programme To Fight The Liberals

A GOVERNMENT OF LIES

The Liberal government of British Columbia came to power through an electoral fraud. It ran on a programme composed of systematic, premeditated lies designed to conceal its real agenda from public view. 

They promised there would be no health care cuts. They promised that signed collective agreements would be respected. They promised there would be no cuts to education funding, or cuts to public services. They promised they wouldn’t reduce the minimum wage, or welfare rates. They promised not to shift costs onto municipalities. They promised no privatization of health care. They promised tax cuts that would pay for themselves and were supposed to benefit low  and middle-income earners. On the basis of all these promises, the Liberals won 59% of the popular vote. Now every single election promise of any substance they made has been broken, with only one partial exception. They did introduce tax cuts, but only for the rich and the corporations.

This government has abandoned any moral right to govern. Its electoral mandate is based on one gigantic lie. It is currently engaged in a form of grand larceny, by looting the public assets and services such as B.C. Hydro in order to virtually give them away to their corporate friends. Its vicious cuts in health care have already begun to kill patients, but the simple fact is that this government does not care. It does not care if you don’t have a job. It does not care if your children don’t receive an education. It does not care if you live on the street. It does not care if you live or die.

The B.C. Liberal offensive is far worse than anything the Bennett government did that led to the rise of the Solidarity movement in 1983. Gordon Campbell intends to do as much as he can, as fast as he can to destroy the social safety net. And every privatization is a self-fulfilling prophecy that will justify even deeper cuts further down the road --  privatizing Hydro will remove $790 million from provincial revenues every year, and require a further $790 million in service cuts every year. Privatize the Liquor Distribution Branch and the figure is increased by $640 million, every year.

To implement these cuts, Campbell has not shrunk from using every opportunity possible to divide and conquer, even going so far as to fan the flames of racism around the referendum. He has launched a sweeping attack, and we need to respond with equal determination.

Above all, we need unity. The simple fact is this: if we fight alone for our individual demands, we will lose. Unions fighting alone for their own demands will be defeated. Community organizations fighting alone for their own issues will lose. To have any hope at all of winning, we need to unite. It’s absolutely clear that the only way unity will become a reality is when all of us are fighting for our own demands as well as for those of all our allies.

In order to create this unity we need to develop a programme of demands that addresses the most important issues of every social group facing the brunt of the Liberals’ attack. The problem is how to do this when a full listing of the Liberals’ cuts and privatization would potentially generate several thousand demands. The draft programme below obviously does not include every issue that could be added, nor should it. Its intent is to create a relatively short and focused list of demands that still manages to represent the interests of all those who are under attack. There are undoubtedly many amendments that can be made to improve the text as it now  exists. However, its main strength lies in the framework it provides for creating a genuine unity programme.

It especially attempts to begin to bridge the divide between the trade union movement and community organizations. This gulf was hugely increased by the betrayal of the aspirations of the Solidarity movement by the November 1983 Kelowna Accord, agreed to by Jack Munro and supported by the then leadership of the B.C. Federation of Labour. There are many dedicated trade unionists in the Fed working hard to oppose the Liberals. However, the organization as a whole has so far failed to put forward any viable fightback campaign to counter the Liberal attacks. The Fed continues to refuse to take any initiative creating a genuine Common Front, despite the fact this is the single most important thing we need to do. The Fed’s continuing isolation can lead to only one outcome -- defeat. It has to be challenged both by community organizations and by union activists alike before it’s too late.

A PROGRAMME OF STRUGGLE AGAINST THE B.C. LIBERALS

• DEFEND THE POOR

raise welfare to livable levels (1975 levels, adjusted for inflation);
stop the disqualifications
increase disability pensions
 increase social housing funding to 1% of the provincial budget
reinstate full funding for Legal Aid
scrap Bill 26 and 27
end the 3-week wait
end the forced family maintenance programme

• DEFEND SENIORS

stop closing seniors residences
no to compulsory 'Assisted Living'
stop forced relocation of seniors
end the Pharmacare cuts
cut MSP premiums

• DEFEND OUR UNIONS

full rights to strike, including for public sector workers 
reinstate torn up contracts
scrap the changes to the Labour Code
no cuts to WCB
restore the Fair Wage policy
no erosion of the Rand formula, dues check off and compulsory union membership

• DEFEND NON-UNIONIZED WORKERS

end the training wage
raise the minimum wage to $10.00
restore the Employment Standards Act
limit part-time, temporary and casual work
restore full staffing for the Employment Standards Branch

• DEFEND PUBLIC SERVICES

no privatization of health care, education, welfare, Hydro, parks, water resources, ICBC, liquor distribution or other services
end the public sector cuts
full services through full public sector staffing
reverse the transit fare increases

• DEFEND OUR RURAL COMMUNITIES

stop hospital closures
stop school closures
stop the closing of courthouses
ban raw log exports
hands off the Forest Practices Code
maintain roads and ferries as a public trust  -  no tolls

• DEFEND EDUCATION

restore funding to school boards
fund ESL programmes in the schools
fund anti-homophobia programmes in the schools
revoke the tuition hikes
reinstate the tuition freeze
restore school lunch programmes
reopen Wells Elementary and the other closed schools

• DEFEND FIRST NATIONS, WOMEN AND SEXUAL MINORITIES

scrap the racist referendum
recognize aboriginal title in law and practice
restore funding to womens’ centres, transition houses and rape crisis centres
reinstate an independent Human Rights Commission
extend human rights protection to gender identity

• DEFEND OUR FAMILIES

full funding for universal daycare
restore funding to the Ministry of Child and Family Development
reinstate the Family Advocate

• DEFEND OUR ENVIRONMENT

restore the moratorium on offshore drilling
keep and maintain provincial campgrounds
no privatization or commercialization of B.C. parks
scrap the cuts to the Ministry of the Environment
restore the moratorium on the grizzly bear hunt

TO ACHIEVE THIS WE NEED A GENERAL STRIKE

Campbell’s popular support has eroded drastically since he began implementing his programme of cuts and privatization. Tens of thousands have turned out into the streets to fight for public health care, education, social services, jobs and union rights. Even traditionally conservative sectors like doctors, lawyers and provincial court judges have joined with social workers and nurses in expressing non-confidence in this brutal and greedy regime.

But none of this has fazed the Liberals. Public pressure alone will not shame a government that has no conscience. And bad as things have been, there’s worse to come.

We believe that nothing short of the massive economic and political disruption of an all-out general strike can possibly hope to defeat the current Liberal offensive.

Recall cannot do it. Recall campaigns can’t even begin until later this fall. With a 77-2 plurality in the Legislature it’s impossible to expect to recall enough MLA’s to make any difference. In any event the MLA’s are only puppets -- the real power lies in a small unelected clique of advisors in Campbell’s inner circle. And in the unlikely event that recall efforts begin to have an effect, the Liberals will simply amend the recall legislation the instant they feel the need to do so.

Becoming involved in the municipal elections alone can’t do it. This November’s municipal elections provide us with a significant opportunity. It is urgent that local activists present and support candidates running on a programme of using elected municipal office to organize active resistance to the provincial Liberal government. It is equally urgent that such candidates pledge publicly they will never implement the cuts Campbell is trying to force B.C.’s municipalities to carry out. While it’s important that we all participate in defeating Campbell’s municipal allies in as many cities and towns as possible, this involvement at the municipal level has to be seen as part of an overall strategy of deepening mobilizations against the Liberals. Ultimately this struggle will be decided in the streets, not in the ballot box.