Saturday November 23, 2019 ~ VICTORIA
~ West Shore Voice News
Today at the BC NDP biennial members convention at the Victoria Conference Centre the delegates voted 96.4% in favour of supporting John Horgan as their party leader.
On this second day of the November 22-24 convention held at the Victoria Conference Centre, Premier Horgan gave a speech that included an outline of the successes of the NDP government since taking the reins of running BC in July 2017.
Horgan supported the initiative of BC teachers asking for more money for education. “We believe in collective bargaining. We put a billion dollars that’s led to the hiring of 4,000 new teachers, 100 new EA’s, class sizes are smaller, resources are better located, we’re building schools in growing districts and putting seismic initiatives in place for those schools that are not safe. Those are the investments were making, we’re not all the way there,” said Horgan at the podium.
The fastest growing school district in BC is in Horgan’s own riding of Langford-Juan de Fuca on south Vancouver Island where for the past few years about 300 to 400 more students have joined the roster in SD62 each year due to families flocking to the west shore for relatively affordable housing.
“We’ve got to do the negotiating at the table, not at the convention, not in question period, not on the evening news but at the bargaining table. That’s what free, fair collective bargaining is all about,” said Horgan to a round of applause.
There was a loud ovation for Horgan’s references to increasing social assistance and provincial disability payments, and increases in the minimum wage. In 2021, the minimum wage will surpass $15 per hour, which happens to be the year of the next scheduled provincial election. Horgan told the crowd that a re-elected NDP government would bring in further minimum wage increases after that.
Horgan reminded supporters that his government’s move to eliminate contract flipping’ in senior homes, where a change of ownership led to union contracts being eliminated and many workers (mostly women) losing their jobs. “Now workers don’t have to reapply for their jobs if the ownership changes,” Horgan said.
Delegates are attending the 2019 Convention from around the province.
With high praise for NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh who also addressed the convention today, Horgan said the federal party leader is a genuine leader and a nice guy. Singh achieved 24 seats for the NDP in the October 21 federal election.
On Thursday at the BC Legislature, Premier Horgan addressed media at the BC Legislature, saying that 80 percent of what was promised in 2017 when his government took office has been achieved, and that that other 20 percent will come.
The convention is an opportunity for political co-mingling of members with their leadership and for delegates to work through the details of various policy ideas. Policy resolutions that get passed at conventions are available to the BC NDP Caucus for consideration but do not necessarily get accepted or acted upon.