Monday August 2, 2021 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
Today across British Columbia, people enjoyed a day off on this BC Day statutory holiday.
Fittingly, today the BC NDP party launched their new 60th anniversary webpage in tribute to the late Dave Barrett’s BC NDP government, which created BC Day as a civic holiday in 1974 so families and friends had more time to enjoy summer together.
The page heavily promotes the broader values and accomplishments of NDP politics across Canada. This comes as a federal election is likely imminent this summer or fall. Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh will be making 60th anniversary remarks from Toronto on Tuesday August 3 with the theme of ‘building a fairer country for all’.
The anniversary webpage chronicles some of the notable elected officials, policies and accomplishments of the BC NDP since its inception in 1961. It features rare photographs of former NDP leader Tommy Douglas, Premier Dave Barrett and others including Rosemary Brown, the first black female MLA elected to the BC Legislature.
There is also a firm credit to now-retired Carole James who Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance oversaw the largest-ever investment in childcare in BC history, putting British Columbia on the path to safe, affordable, accessible universal childcare.
Dave Barrett profile:
Dave Barrett was the 26th premier of BC. His short-lived government was progressive in many ways, including creating the Agricultural Land Reserve and banning corporal punishment in the public education system. On his first day in office he banned pay-toilets in public buildings. The Barrett government brought in Mincome which guaranteed a minimum $200 per month for seniors, and raised the minimum wage in BC to $2.50/hr which was the highest in Canada at the time.
“BC’s New Democratic Party was founded on the idea that the people of British Columbia deserved a government who made their lives better,” said Heather Stoutenburg, Provincial Director of the BC NDP, in a news release today. “For the last six decades our elected officials, volunteers and supporters have fought tirelessly for people, and delivered bold, world-leading change to our province. We’re proud to celebrate that legacy today and keep building on it in the future.”
The new Sixty webpage is at https://www.bcndp.ca/sixty with a ‘Donate’ button featured at the top of the page. The introductory message is as bold as the party has aimed to be all these years: “BC’s New Democratic Party was born from the audacious idea that the people of this province deserved a government who made their lives better.”
With an old black-and-white photo of Dave Barrett, the cutline is that “in 1969 the BC New Democratic Party elected a bold and visionary leader to take them into the next decade and the next provincial election in 1972. That person was East Vancouver’s Dave Barrett.”
“For too long this province has been racked with division… Unashamedly, I call for love.” ~ Dave Barrett
Barrett’s government served for just three years and three months (election win on August 29, 1972, NDP government September 15, 1972 to December 22, 1975).
Barrett passed away on February 2, 2018; a jam-packed public memorial for Dave Barrett was held on March 3, 2018 at the University of Victoria’s Farquhar Auditorium.
===== LINKS:
Dave Barrett public memorial March 2018 (Island Social Trends)
Dave Barrett profile (Wikipedia)