Jaynie Clark and her NDP family secrets

Current Position: NDP candidate in Burnaby-Lougheed.

Past Positions: One of four Directors at the BCGEU.

Family Connections: Another one of Carole James’ star union recruits, Clark works closely with her fellow BCGEU Director and NDP President Jeff Fox. She is part of the record number of union-connected candidates that Carole James has brought onto her team.

Family Secrets: Clark managed the campaign of federal NDP candidate Bill Siksay and is a staunch supporter of Jack Layton.

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.”

Bruce Ralston and his NDP Family Secrets

NDP MLA

Current Position: Running for reelection as NDP MLA, Surrey Walley, Appointed Finance critic by Carole James.

Past Positions: Party President, BC NDP.

Family Connections: Ralston is one Finance critic and potential Minister of Finance that the union movement can get behind. Not only has he worked in the union movement himself, but his spouse, Miriam Sobrino, is a senior staff person for a major public sector union. Ralston has never been shy about exploiting his union connections and recently was caught begging for paper clips from his union friends.

Family Secrets: Ralston was an impassioned defender of Glen Clark and the NDP during the 1990s. He was the point person in defending the party during the dark days of the Bingogate scandal and didn’t publicly disagree with a single Glen Clark initiative. And now Carole James thinks that he would make a great Finance Minister under a “new” NDP government

Judge dodges issue of worker rights in election spending decision

With the full verdict issued yesterday in the unions’ legal challenge to Bill 42 restricting spending by third parties in an election, the judge chose to sidestep the question of the democratic rights of workers who do not support their union’s political views.

Two educators: Gloria Laurence, a CUPE member, and Wendy Weis, a member of BCTF, were parties to the court case to try to prevent their unions from spending their mandatory dues to attack a government they support.

See the full text of ICBA’s news release on this issue at www.mydues.ca.

ICBA President Philip Hochstein, in an op-ed in today’s Vancouver Sun, is calling on government to stand up for worker rights on use of union dues.

“Unlike every other democratic country in the world, and despite a Supreme Court ruling that forced union membership is a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, British Columbia clings to labour laws that force workers to join unions, and then force those workers to contribute to the unions' political agendas, no matter how extreme.”

It is ludicrous to say that every single union member in BC supports the NDP, yet they’re all forced to watch their unions spend millions creating ads that say Gordon Campbell wants to kill their grandmas. This has to stop.

Rub a dub dub, Only 2 business people in a $30 billion tub....

Carole James spoke yesterday to the Business Council of BC in an attempt to make nice with business, but despite her protests that she’s different from the NDP of the 1990s, no one was buying it.

James said if she were in charge, she’d build homes, instead of the kinds of infrastructure projects starting now that can help turn our economy around. She made it clear that she plans to change the labour code, likely eliminating the democratic rights of workers and making it easier for unions to organize. That is no surprise given the NDP’s intimate relationship with big labour, but is hardly the kind of thing a business audience needs to hear to have any trust in someone who wants to lead this province during an economic crisis.

She told the Business Council that she would “study” green projects like run of river hydro, which really means she’ll make the approval process so cumbersome as to put an end to them. She says she’s going to consult with business, but that’s political code for “I’m making changes and they’re not good for you.”

There have been a lot of questions lately about the NDP’s lack of any experience in the private sector, and how they could possibly run the province’s economy with no business experience among their candidates.

So we listened closely when James was asked about the complete lack of business experience in her field of candidates. And we couldn’t help laughing uproariously at her answer. It seems there are a whopping two candidates (among 85 ridings!?) with experience in the private sector – a lawyer and a farmer. Oh sure, that instils confidence, doesn’t it?

No matter how many times she claims to be different from the NDP of the 1990s, the NDP who destroyed our province’s economy, she’s not different. She’s surrounded by the same people and making the same mistakes.

Carole James and the NDP. Wrong party, wrong leader, wrong time.

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.