Jenn McGinn and her NDP family secrets

Current Position: NDP Candidate in Vancouver-Fairview

Past Positions: NDP MLA for Vancouver-Fairview

Family Connections: McGinn is connected to the NDP network in Fairview, which includes CUPE Vice President Paul Faor and city councilor and former BC Federation of Labour Executive Director Geoff Meggs.

Family Secrets: McGinn is the latest NDP candidate to launch personal attacks in what has become the most negative campaign by the NDP in BC history. Carole James offered her usual half hearted apology.

Mable Elmore and her NDP family secrets

Current Position: NDP candidate in Vancouver-Kensington

Past Positions: Elmore got her start as a Federation of Labour Regional Political Coordinator during Jim Sinclair's term as president. She is also an activist in CAW local 111, and an active member of stopwar.ca

Family Connections: Elmore is a proud member of the NDP’s “Socialist Caucus,” a group of people who think that the rest of the NDP are not socialist enough. 24 hrs columnist and NDP activist Bill Tieleman is one her biggest fans.

Family Secrets: Why does Elmore have the shortest “official biography” of any candidate on the NDP website? There is nothing about this or this.

Jim Sinclair and his NDP family secrets

Current Position: President, BC Federation of Labour

Past Positions: President, BC Federation of Labour. Appointed to BC Hydro Board by NDP government in 1990s.

Family Connections: Sinclair has made the BC Federation of Labour a safe haven for ex-NDP staff members in search of work. He has hired former Glen Clark communications director Geoff Meggs and former Premier’s Office senior staff person Jessie Uppal.

Family Secrets: Controversial anti-Zionist NDP candidate Mable Elmore got her start as a Federation of Labour Regional Political Coordinator during Sinclair’s term as president.

Harry Bains and his NDP family secrets

Current Position: Running for re-election as NDP MLA Surrey-Newton

Past Positions: President, IWA Local 217.

Family Connections: Bains is a long-time labour leader who was a star recruit for Carole James in 2005. He was a huge supporter of Glen Clark's leadership in 1995. The Vancouver Sun's legislative columnist, Vaughn Palmer, described his nomination this way in 2005:

"The lone candidate for the NDP nomination is Harry Bains, a longtime trade union official and vice-president of one of the big locals of IWA Canada So there's one comment on the success of James effort to "modernize" the NDP relationship with organized labour."

Family Secrets: Bains landed former Premier's office senior official and BC Federation of Labour Communications Director Jessie Uppal as his campaign manager in 2005.

I spy with my little eye, union reps on the NDP's Exec

Despite claims of severing ties between the BC NDP and unions, Carole James and other senior NDP people clearly don’t intend to break those bonds.

"We want working people and their families to join and become active in the NDP because we share the same values of social justice and solidarity. Throughout our history, we've only been successful when unions and the NDP have stood together united. That's how we will defeat Gordon Campbell in the next election." – Carole James, Lead of the opposition, The Democrat, December 2006

"Labour is an integral part of the NDP. We need to get union members more involved at every level in the Party." – Jeff Fox, President of the BC NDP, The Democrat, December 2006

Look at the list of the NDP provincial executive and you’ll find:

- former BCGEU Director of Organizing and Field Services, Jeff Fox
- current Vice-President of Canadian Office and Professional Employees (COPE) Local 378, David Black
- current Secretary Treasurer for BC Federation of Labour, Angela Schira
- current communications for BC Federation of Labour, Glen MacInnes
- OPIEU’s Kelly Quinn
- current President of USWA Local 2952, Scott McRitchie
- current chair of HEU Provincial Bargaining Committee, Barb Burke

It would appear that Carole and Jeff have gotten their wish of getting union members involved in the Party.

Unions paying the piper for NDP

In the last four years, unions have donated more than $3 million to the NDP. This is on top of the money – another $3 million -- unions have spent for their own third-party advertising leading up to and during election campaigns. Ties between the NDP and the unions are as tight as they ever were, with the BC Federation of Labour continuing to hold hands with Carole James and her party.

Carole James committed years ago to severing ties with organized labour, but obviously that doesn’t count when it comes to taking their money. In a recent speech to the BC Fed, Carole James made it clear that the NDP and the BC Fed were one in the same. She said:

"Together we will stand up for working families, for the everyday people who keep B.C. going. And on May 12, 2009, we will win an historic victory!"

How much did the BC Federation of Labour and its affiliate members donate to the BC NDP? The reports cover each calendar year, and January to October 2008 (when two by-elections were held in Vancouver):

2005-Oct 2008

· Total union donations: $3,320,751.52
· Total donations from the BC Federation of Labour: $614,783.00
· Total donations from the BC Federation of Labour affiliate unions: $2,386,664.51
· Total union donations for 2008: $483,186.51
· Total union donations for 2007: $219, 841.00
· Total union donations for 2006: $86,925.00
· Total union donations for 2005: $2,530,799.01

Do we want unions dictating economic policy for our province?

Wrong party. Wrong leader. Wrong time.