Bill Routley and his NDP family secrets

Current Position: NDP candidate in Cowichan Valley

Past Positions: President of IWA local 1-80.

Family Connections: One of the best connected union bosses in BC, Routley has been a major supporter of NDP MP Jean Crowder, MLA’s Leonard Krog, John Horgan and Doug Routley.

Family Secrets: For one, Bill Routley is not related to MLA Doug Routley, who is running for the NDP in Nanaimo-North Cowichan. On the NDP profile page, a full of seven of his ten accomplishments are union related. So much for the “new NDP.”

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.