As VanRamblings wrote yesterday, tonight at 5pm, the Metro Vancouver Alliance (MVA) — an alliance of faith, educational institutions, non-profits, and union groups located across the Metro Vancouver region — will hold a critically important fundraiser, titled Bridging the Gap, in order that the MVA might raise $15,000 in funds to hire a full-time organizer, matching funding for monies raised last month by member organizations within the MVA.
Bridging the Gap Metro Vancouver Alliance Fundraiser
5pm, Wednesday, November 25, 2020 Register: click onthis link to RSVP
Today on VanRamblings, we’ll focus on two interviews we conducted yesterday with Deborah Littman, the Metro Vancouver Alliance’s original organizer, and Joey Hartman, the first chairperson of the MVA — both of whom will fill you in on the history of one of Metro Vancouver and our province’s most important, difference making social justice organizations.
Here’s Deborah Littman on the formation of the Metro Vancouver Alliance, issues the MVA addressed during her multi-year tenure, VanRamblings’ interview concluding with Ms. Littman’s insight into an April 2017 leadership debate at the Italian Cultural Centre, organized by the Metro Vancouver Alliance that, perhaps, helped to create the conditions for an “alliance” of two of the leaders on stage that night, subsequently allowing John Horgan and the B.C. New Democratic Party to form government in July 2017.
Metro Vancouver Alliance | Voices on the History of the MVA | Deborah Littman, Organizer, and former MVA Chair, Joey Hartman
Again, please attend tonight’s Metro Vancouver Alliance fundraiser.
Bridging the Gap Metro Vancouver Alliance Fundraiser
5pm, Wednesday, November 25, 2020 Register: click onthis link to RSVP
Once you register for tonight’s fundraiser, the good folks at the Metro Vancouver Alliance will post a Zoom participant link to your e-mail address. The fundraiser will be online at 4:30pm this evening, with the official fundraiser to get underway at 5pm, the whole event to wrap at 5:45pm, as VanRamblings wrote yesterday, perhaps the best, most selfless and most rewarding activity in which you might engage throughout the entire upcoming holiday season.
The Metro Vancouver Alliance has established a charitable Canada Helps account. Whether you want to make a one time donation to the MVA, or become a sustaining monthly donor, all you have to do is click on this Canada Helps link, click the down arrow on the right-hand side of the page, choose the Metro Vancouver Alliance (MVA) option, and then click on the CONTINUE WITH DONATION “button”.
Click on the graphic above to go to the Canada Helps website, to donate to the Metro Vancouver Alliance’s Bridging the Gap Fundraiser. You’ll be glad you did! Don’t forget to click on the down arrow to choose the Metro Vancouver Alliance option.
Whether you give just once, or wish to become a sustaining MVA donor, your contribution to the Metro Vancouver Alliance will succeed in making a proportional difference of meaning in the lives of a great many people who need our help. As the MVA is designated as a non-profit, charitable organization, any donation you make will be tax deductible — all the more reason to give generously and from your heart. MVA members thank you.
The members of the Metro Vancouver Alliance look forward to meeting you online tonight.
For nearly 30 years now, the Metro Vancouver Alliance (MVA), an alliance of faith, non-profit, educational institutions and union groups situated across the Lower Mainland, has played a pivotal and continuing role in ensuring that those whom government and our society has let down and made vulnerable have a loud and clarion voice in helping set policy to redress the societal wrongs that inhibit their full participation in the life of the society.
In the 1990s, the group who would come to form the Metro Vancouver Alliance almost two decades later were comprised of various members of the faith and union communities across the metro Vancouver region, who came together, informally, to fight for change and social justice.
As you’ll hear tomorrow in an interview VanRamblings conducted with recent, and now retired, Metro Vancouver Alliance organizer, Deborah Littman, in point of fact, the genesis of what would become the Metro Vancouver Alliance did not begin to occur in earnest until 2009, with work continuing on through 2013, when as you’ll hear tomorrow from former Vancouver and District Labour Council President, and former Metro Vancouver Alliance chair, Joey Hartman, 1000 people of varied backgrounds and interests came together at the Maritime Labour Centre, to create what is now the thriving activist organization, the Metro Vancouver Alliance.
Although the Metro Vancouver Alliance has been around in some form or another dating back 1993, since 2013 in its most recent and current incarnation, the MVA has worked assiduously and with conscience to …
Develop innovative solutions to social isolation, to break down the pervasive sense of anomie that has so many in its grip, particularly in the time of our current COVID-19 pandemic;
Successfully worked with British Columbia’s current provincial government to establish free transit for children ages 5 through 12, in fact all children under the age of thirteen — an initiative enunciated by Premier John Horgan in the recent provincial election;
Successfully fought with the organizers within the Living Wage for Families offices to establish living wage policies in municipalities across not just the Metro Vancouver region, but across the entire province;
Committed to working with MVA member organizations and community groups to address the social and affordable housing crisis, to strengthen existing by-laws that protect the rights of tenants, and worked with municipal governments, and the province, to establish covenants that would mandate that landlords could not increase rents beyond the established provincial rate when tenants vacate an apartment, condominium, house or other housing type.
In recent days, Patrick Condon, the founding chair of the UBC urban design programme, and Vancouver City Councillor Colleen Hardwick have made contact with the Metro Vancouver Alliance to encourage the organization to work with them to establish a Tiny Homes pilot project, to be established at member locations of ten faith-based churches, synagogues and temples.
In order to continue the invaluable work of the Metro Vancouver Alliance, and in order that the MVA might hire a full-time organizer, the MVA is currently engaged in a fundraising campaign they’re calling Bridging the Gap, a fundraising initiative that it is hoped will raise $15,000 from a broad cross-section of community members of conscience who live across our region who are committed to social justice, monies that would match the $15,000 raised in 45 minutes at a Thursday, October 15th MVA meeting.
In the time of COVID-19, the Bridging the Gap Fundraiser will occur as a warmly engaging online participant Zoom meeting. You may consider today’s VanRamblings column your special invitation to participate in the Bridging the Gap Metro Vancouver Alliance Fundraiser, scheduled for 5pm tomorrow evening, on Wednesday, November 25th, 2020.
Bridging the Gap Metro Vancouver Alliance Fundraiser
5pm, Wednesday, November 25, 2020 Register: click onthis link to RSVP
In order to participate in tomorrow night’s fundraiser, click on this link to RSVP for tomorrow evening’s fundraising meeting. Once registered, the good folks at the Metro Vancouver Alliance will post a Zoom participant link to your e-mail address. The fundraiser will be online from 4:30pm, with the official fundraiser getting underway at 5pm, the whole event to wrap at 5:45pm, perhaps the best, most selfless and most rewarding activity in which you might engage throughout the entire upcoming holiday season.
The Metro Vancouver Alliance has established a charitable Canada Helps account. Whether you want to make a one time donation to the MVA, or become a sustaining monthly donor, all you have to do is click on this Canada Helps link, click the down arrow on the right-hand side of the page, choose the Metro Vancouver Alliance (MVA) option, and then click on the CONTINUE WITH DONATION “button”.
Click on the graphic above to go to the Canada Helps website, to donate to the Metro Vancouver Alliance’s Bridging the Gap Fundraiser. You’ll be glad you did! Don’t forget to click on the down arrow to choose the Metro Vancouver Alliance option.
Whether you give just once, or wish to become a sustaining MVA donor, your contribution to the Metro Vancouver Alliance will succeed in making a proportional difference of meaning in the lives of a great many people who need our help. As the MVA is designated as a non-profit, charitable organization, any donation you make will be tax deductible — all the more reason to give generously and from your heart. MVA members thank you.
The members of the Metro Vancouver Alliance look forward to meeting you online at 5pm tomorrow evening. We’ll see you then !!!
In two days, the eight-seven new, and in most cases returning, members of the British Columbia legislature will be sworn into office for the next term.
The newly-elected British Columbia New Democratic Party caucus is comprised of a record 29 distaff members, which means that more than half of the NDP’s 57 member caucus are women — good on the BC NDP, and a hearty congratulations to all new female members of the NDP caucus.
John Horgan has made various announcements leading up to Wednesday …
Cabinet, part 1. The new Cabinet, as was the case with the NDP’s most recent Cabinet, will be comprised of 50% women and 50% men — for which we have Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his trusted advisors, Gerald Butts and his continuing Chief of Staff, Katie Telford to thank.
Cabinet, part 2. The new BC NDP Cabinet will be sworn in on Thursday. Here’s what we know for sure as of this writing. Contrary to VanRamblings speculation last month that David Eby would become the new Minister of Housing — well, that’s off the table, given that Premier Horgan let it slip that Selina Robinson will maintain her dual role as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Minister Responsible for Housing. Now, we know for sure that David Eby will not continue as Attorney General and Minister of Justice, given that Mr. Horgan let it slip that newly-elected NDP MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head would take on that role. Where does that leave the NDP caucus’ beloved David Eby? We’ll know on Thursday.
Meanwhile, though, this morning, the hapless B.C. Liberal party will be leaderless, given that Andrew Wilkinson stepped down from that role over the weekend. Update: Shirley Bond was selected as the Interim leader of the B.C. Liberals in a vote of the 28 Liberal caucus, early afternoon Monday.
Let’s use successful example of 2015 Tories post-Harper, who successfully appointed #RonaAmbrose as interim leader.
1. Leader must be a woman 2. Must command respect of the caucus 3. Clear experience in Legislature 4. Likable, media savvy & resilient
As for the Greens, the party didn’t achieve their much-desired first seat on the Lower Mainland, with the Green candidate for West Vancouver Sea-to-Sky going down to defeat to incumbent B.C. Liberal, Jordan Sturdy, in a close race, confirmed in a recount. Still, there’s good news for B.C. Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau, and her Green Party colleague, Adam Olsen — John Horgan has agreed to afford the Green Party official party status in the B.C. Legislature, which means millions of dollars in funding to the party.
How Elections Are Won | Some Reasons for NDP Success
Nominated candidates in all 87 electoral districts.
Created more than 2,000 online ads (in 9 languages).
Earned more than 47,000,000 views on their digital ads.
Sent more than 300,000 text messages to British Columbians.
Trained 750 volunteers to call people all over B.C. and got out the vote during 2,479 volunteer-driven shifts!
Distributed more than 10,000 lawn signs.
Printed more than 150,000 leaflets.
Ran 5 television ads non-stop for a month.
A great deal of work goes into mounting a successful political campaign.
Now onto the stuff you really care about: the $1,000 for couples, and the $500 for individuals that Mr. Horgan had promised during the recent election campaign. Good news? The money is on its way. When the Legislature is called back into session on December 7th, the first order of business will be to enable the government to shovel that money out the door. In the spring, the BC NDP government gave most British Columbians $180 in a non-taxable Climate Action grant to households with a combined of under $125,000, money that was either deposited directly into your bank account, or mailed to you. The expectation is that monies will be deposited into your bank account on Christmas Eve (and, no, we’re not kidding), or will arrive by January 5th by snail mail — happy, happy days!
In today’s wrap-up coverage of Decision 2020, in the main, we’re going to turn the column over to the reflections of others who’ve weighed in on the recently-completed, but not yet over, British Columbia provincial election.
That said, before we move to the observations of others, VanRamblings would like to weigh-in on what we consider to be the historic re-alignment of politics in British Columbia, and what that means for us going forward.
br>John Horgan assumes the leadership of the B.C. NDP on Thursday, May 1st, 2014
Since being acclaimed the leader of the B.C. NDP on May 1st 2014 — replacing Adrian Dix, who had failed miserably in the 2013 provincial election — John Horgan has taken the British Columbia New Democratic Party to the centre of the political spectrum, assuming the ground occupied by the B.C. Liberals as a resource extraction, pro-LNG, Site C dam loving, moving at a snail’s pace on promised social programmes like $10-a-day child care, and as a balanced budget loving provincial political party.
In other words, the B.C. NDP have become what the B.C. Liberals should have become following the defeat of the Christy Clark government in 2017 — as Wilkinson moved the party to the right, as a coalition of right-of-centre federal Liberals, and far right-of-centre Stephen Harper Conservatives, all the while failing to take the pulse of British Columbians, who in 2020 are no longer enamoured of the anti-union, corporate-backed politics British Columbians largely supported over the past 70 years, from the era of Wacky Bennett, to “Son of Bennett,” former Mayor and Premier Gordon Campbell — who on election tore up dozens of negotiated collective agreements — and vapid talk show host made good, Christy Clark.
With the BC NDP now occupying the centre of the political spectrum, and the B.C. Liberal Party set to transform into a Brad Wall-Scott Moe Sask-Party-style right-of-centre B.C. Party, as we wrote yesterday, the left side of the political spectrum in British Columbia has been ceded to Sonia Furstenau and Adam Olsen’s re-imagined eco-socialist B.C. Green Party.
VanRamblings is predicting that Premier John Horgan will step down in late 2023, with the leadership of the B.C. NDP going to his preferred successor, David Eby, or to the charismatic member for the Stikine riding, Nathan Cullen. With either leader, the B.C. New Democratic Party will be returned to government in 2024, for a third term of office in the province’s capital.
All governments have a shelf life, though — and that will be the case with the B.C. NDP when the 2028 provincial election is called.
By that time, B.C. Green leader Sonia Furstenau will have had ample time to define her party in the eyes of British Columbians.
Upon completion of the 2024 provincial election, VanRamblings predicts that the B.C. Greens will have picked up another half dozen seats in the Legislature, and in 2028 will have added more, for a total seat count that includes all of the following ridings: Victoria-Beacon Hill, Oak Bay-Gordon Head, Saanich and the North Islands, Saanich-South, Esquimalt-Metchosin, Parksville-Qualicum, Nanaimo, Nanaimo-North Cowichan, Cowichan, Courtenay-Comox, North Island, Powell River-Sunshine Coast, Vancouver-False Creek, West Vancouver – Sea to Sky, New Westminster, Nelson-Creston, and Kootenay West, with the B.C. Greens holding the balance of power in a coalition-style British Columbia minority NDP government.
In the eventuality outlined directly above, by 2028, now a well-seasoned politico, B.C. Green leader Sonia Furstenau will hold the whip hand, in support of minority NDP government — given there’s no way a B.C. Green Party could support a right-of-centre B.C. Party, although she could hold the potential for that possibility over the heads of the B.C. New Democrats.
Now onto the observations of others, including the political strategists who comprise the endearing and engagingly foul-mouthed, beloved by many (including me), and well-experienced political difference makers — the rumpled David Herle, the good looking Scott Reid, and the swears-like-a-drunken sailor, Jenni Byrne — who over the course of the past 40 years have helped shape Canadian politics, mostly at the federal level, but often enough, too, at the provincial level: the wily, riotously humourous, utterly non-rancorous, incredibly bright, truth-telling, and — believe it or not — non-partisan panel who comprise The Herle Burly podcast, a must-listen for anybody who has a life, cares even a whit about the state of our nation, and gives a good galldarn about how the sausage is made, and how decisions are arrived at in government that determine how our lives are lived in this country we call Canada — surely, that must be you.
David Herle, Scott Reid & Jenni Byrne on British Columbia’s Decision 2020 provincial election — guaranteed to be the best thing you’ll hear all day.
Let’s excerpt a number of comments made by political pundits published on The Tyee post-election, in a story titled, So, What Does BC’s Election Outcome Really Mean? Here a few of the more provocative insights …
UBC Political Science prof, Max Cameron
Several conditions contributed to the success of John Horgan’s NDP. First, the world is going through a social democratic moment. Social democracies in other places have managed the COVID-19 pandemic effectively, in part because they have invested in universal health care and economic security …
Second, the NDP government has shown that it pays to listen to science and make policies informed by evidence. Elected officials — notably Adrian Dix — worked closely with public health officers — especially Dr. Bonnie Henry — to win the trust of the public and mobilize support for public health directives …
Third, the NDP benefited from a minority Parliament. Minority situations encourage governments to be cautious, responsive and to hew closely to public opinion. Working within a historic Confidence and Supply Agreement with the BC Greens, the NDP ran a government that made few errors and suffered few scandals.
Finally, new campaign finance rules introduced by the NDP eliminated corporate and union donations and capped contributions from individuals. This levelled the playing field.
Karen Ward: With your majority, NDP, ‘choose to be brave.’
British Columbians rejected the vicious politics of Wilkinson’s Liberals. They don’t like it when you use people in trouble as a weapon to punish them further. I hope the message to the NDP is clear: Be brave.
Alex Shiff, former BC Liberal spokesperson
While the BC Liberals needed to win back suburban Metro Vancouver swing ridings that they lost in 2017, the BC NDP was able to defend those ridings while pushing deeper into the Fraser Valley. The BC NDP was able to scoop up voters who decided that John Horgan’s first term as premier was not the radical activist administration that some had predicted, and a change in government in the middle of a pandemic was ultimately not what the doctor ordered.
The results represent an inflection point for the BC Liberals. The party needs to find a way to regain their appeal to suburban and urban ridings in Metro Vancouver, who, along with the party’s dominance in rural communities, were key to a pathway to the premier’s office.
Mario Canseco, Research Co, B.C. polling firm
The BC Liberals have a monumental dual task ahead: a need to reconnect with federal Liberal Party voters who did not feel uncomfortable voting for the BC NDP in this election, and ensuring that voters do not see the BC Conservatives as a more palatable option in 2024 or during any byelections that happen before then.
It was going to be a daunting task for any opposition party to erase the emotional edge that the handling of COVID-19 had bestowed upon the BC NDP. This is the first provincial election in this century where the incumbent premier had an approval rating higher than 60 per cent heading into election day. The BC Liberals certainly faced difficulties adapting to a campaign that minimized their natural strengths: the ability to fill rooms of supporters who wanted to hear the leader speak and an effective get-out-the-vote operation when more than half a million voters requested packages to vote by mail.
George Abbott, former BC Liberal MLA and Cabinet Minister
The Liberal campaign struck me as largely tone deaf around the issue that dominates public concern: the pandemic. If a BC Liberal government was prepared to offer up $10 - 11 billion in stimulus spending (a short-term elimination/reduction of provincial sales tax), a more imaginative platform might have embraced, for example, a billion dollar program for climate-proofing communities from wildfire and flood. The best stimulus programs deliver a “triple word score:” create or protect jobs, generate spin-off economic activity and enhance community safety and services.
As we bring VanRamblings’ post-mortem coverage of Decision 2020 to a close, we’ll leave you with this thought, that will likely gladden the heart of Sharon Gregson, as well as the working moms who’ve had to remain at home during the pandemic to care for their children: the biggest mistake made by the NDP in this election was in not identifying child care as both an economic and a feminist issue, and promising dramatically increased funding and near immediate movement towards $10-a-day and greatly expanded child care, allowing mothers to return to work while building the economy — which is a critical concern going forward — while showing a greater degree of caring and compassion for the children of the province.
While John Horgan promised free transit for children 5 – 12 years of age, that initiative failed to meet the needs of working families with teenage children who, as is the case in Surrey, must walk 5.8 kilometres, as the crow flies, to their school before becoming eligible for busing. At the very least, the John Horgan government could have promised to halve the fare for children aged 12 – 18 — a necessary initiative they failed to implement.
C’mon back Monday & Tuesday for VanRamblings’ take on the November 3rd U.S. Presidential election, where Democrats hope to win the Presidency, and both houses of Congress — and return sanity to all of our lives.