A Manifesto for British Columbia

[Kevin Logan]

This site has been established as a result of broad interest in developing a strong policy platform for the BCNDP to adopt before the next election.

It is a continuance of the work found at Sustainable BC.

See here: www.buildingsustainablebc.ca

Which began in 2005.

The intent of this forum is to develop a place for people to learn and comment on this work and influence the direction and content of the platform.

Thank you for visiting and please feel free to register and join the discussion.

[juner]

I agree that the people of this province and the people of BC must get busy and enhance the document that was created in 2005, passed at Convention in 2007 and had a timeline for implementation that has never been done.

The Sustainable BC document would make a great manifesto with some additions and with a way to hold "feet to the fire" should our wishes not be met by those elected.

The NDP democracy has been so truncated over the past number of years and it is well past time for us to take that back as well!

We need to as a group get busy and develop "plans" for the upcoming Convention.

NO MORE WASTING TIME!!

[ccallihoo]

I too agree that the time for pressing change is yesterday. However, I remain on the sidelines pondering as to the role the NDP should play in this. Regretfully, the NDP have quite a sordid past in BC and have a lot to address to be truly seen as a political party that can keep its s**t together during challenging times and to stay true to their mandate - to serve the majority of folks in BC.

[Kevin Logan]

There was a thread started at Babble on the same day as this board.

See it here: www.rabble.ca/babble/western-provinces/bc-ndp-what-policies-should-new-leader-pursue-and-why

There has been significant visitation to the site but not much input.

If members prefer discussing it elsewhere please advise and I will take down this board.

If it is a waste of time and a discussion that should have happened yesterday, is it best to not have this discussion at all?

Cheers
Temp admin

[Kevin Logan]

I have taken the liberty of snipping this post from Left Turn at Babble as the most relevant offering from their forum

It is a list of preferential policy positions from that posters point of view.

I would support a BC NDP leader campaigning on the following:

A more equitable tax system:
Reverse the 25% personal income tax cut of 2001
Repeal the BC Liberals corporate income tax cuts
Re-institute the capital gainst tax
Eliminate the HST and reinstitute the old PST
Eliminate MSP preminums
Triple the carbon tax, with the proceeds going to fund transit expansion


More affordable post-secondary education:
Reduce tuition fees to 2001 levels


Improved emplyment standards and labour rights:

Increase minimum wage to $16/hour with no training wage
Increase the minimum shift length back to 4 hours
Eliminate the averaging of hours worked for the purpose of determining overtime pay
Ban the use of scab labour during strikes
Move from secret ballot unionization votes to card certification of unions
Allow employees to discuss unionization during work breaks on company property
Ban employers from distributing anti-union propaganda

An aggressive plan to end homelessness and reduce poverty:
Build 5,000 new units of social housing per year
Double the rates for welfare and disability
Eliminate the regulation that denies support to persons with developmental disabilities who have IQs over 70
Expand the provincial subsidized transit pass program to include all low income individuals
Improved rent controls that prevent rent increases of greater than 4%, and that are tied to the accommodation and not just the person


An improved and more accountable public transit system:

Move to an elected Translink board, and reduce the boundaries of Translink to those of Metro Vancouver
Build the Evergreen line (rapid transit to Port Moody and Coquitlam) as a full public project, not a P3, and fully fund this project
Fund the addition of 500 more buses to the metro vancouver transit system
Fund a fully public (no P3) light rail transit line along the broadway corridor to UBC
Fund a fully publc (no P3) light rail transit line in Victoria
Fund a fully public (no P3) commuter rail line out the Fraser Valley to Chilliwack
Freeze fares on all surface public transit in BC
Return BC Ferries to its former status as a full crown corporation
Reduce fares on BC Ferries to 2001 levels


Improved health care:

Cancel the contracts for private provision of food and laundry services in hospitals
Eliminate the $25/day fees for certain hospital stays that were imposed in August 2010
Maximize the use of all operating room capacity within the health care system (currently there is significant unused operating time), and increase health care funding to accommodate this
Fund the hiring of 500 extra full-time nurses
Build 2,000 new public long-term care beds per year
Allow elderly patients to go directly into subsidized care beds without having to wind up in the hospital first
Classify all major broken bones in patients over the age of 80 as "life-threatening" (currently they are not classified as such), so they get guaranteed surgery within 48 hours.



Improved public Education:

Reduce class sizes to 25 students in elementary school, 30 students in high school
Increase education funding in order to hire the necessary teachers to meet the new class-size restrictions


An aggressive plan to protect BC's environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions:

Cancel the Gateway project (those parts of it not built before the next election)
Ban raw log exports
Go back to tying timber rights to the local processing of the logs
Beef up forestry regulations to allow only the most enviromentally sensitive forestry practices
Cancel all plans for private run of the river power projects
Ban the removal of land from the Agricultural Land Reserve
Ban hydraulic fracturing (currently being used in shale gas mining in northeastern BC)
Place a moratorium on the approval of new coal mines
Place a 25% export tax on coal exports
Place a 25% export tax on the export of oil (Provincial government can't ban the oil tankers coming though Burrard inlet, but can tax the hell out of them)
Place hard emissions caps on heavy polluting industries

(Re)Nationalizing key assets:

Return to BC Hrydo the ability to create new power generating capacity
Cancel the lease of BC Rail to CN
Nationalize Telus, with a view to bringing back to BC those jobs that have been outsourced to the Phillippines