April 16, 2013 - No. 50

British Columbia Election Called for May 14

Defeat the Anti-Social Agenda!
Defeat the Anti-Social Clark Liberals!

British Columbia Election Called for May 14
• Defeat the Anti-Social Agenda! Defeat the Anti-Social Clark Liberals!
• Party Standings Prior to 40th BC Provincial Election

Discussion on the Need to Empower the Elector
• Fixed Date Elections Still Pose the Need for Democratic Renewal - Dorothy-Jean O'Donnell

In the Name of Carbon Neutrality
• Pay-the-Rich Corruption and Attacks on Social Programs - Charles Boylan 

All Out to Support the People of Venezuela!
• Victory for Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuelan Presidential Election

British Columbia Election Called for May 14

Defeat the Anti-Social Agenda!
Defeat the Anti-Social Clark Liberals!

On May 14, British Columbians go to the polls in the province's 40th general election. With a lot at stake, serious challenges face the people. The election is said to be a democratic exercise to involve the people of BC in taking decisions that affect their lives. The rationale of elections is to translate the popular will into the legal will. The reality is quite different in BC, as the working people are deprived of the right to decide and bring their will and agenda into government as the legal will. Instead, a small privileged political and economic elite dominate all aspects of the economic and political affairs of the province including the electoral process. They have manipulated the political process to impose their austerity agenda as the legal will and government against the popular will of the people.

The challenge for the working people of BC is to put themselves at centre-stage during this election. Throughout BC, workers, youth, seniors, First Nations, fishers, farmers and small businesspeople have been taking a stand against the anti-social austerity agenda of the Liberal Party in power. They demonstrated this in practice with the defeat of the hated HST imposed on them in a surprise attack by the Campbell/Clark Liberals. The people have been fighting to defend and increase investments in health care, education and social programs, and block the wholesale privatization and handover of public assets to the rich such as BC Rail. The people are fighting for a new direction for the economy that favours its extended reproduction to serve the people and not the global monopolies.

Through their opposition to the export of raw resources to enrich the monopolies, the people of BC are demanding a new direction for the resource economy. The wrecking of the wood industry and the schemes to push forward pipelines to export raw bitumen without the consent of the people, especially the First Nations, reflect the domination of the monopolies and their representatives in power in Victoria and Ottawa. The monopolies and their politicians act in reckless disregard for the right of the people of BC and the First Nations to decide and control those political and economic affairs that affect them directly.

The Clark government has been working hand in glove with the Harper dictatorship to impose their low wage agenda and further the guest worker schemes. Unscrupulous labour traffickers and traders, and the companies they supply with temporary foreign workers deny those workers their rights as workers and human beings and deprive the communities where they are employed of building a stable and self reliant economy and civil society united as one in defence of the rights of all. Once workers are resident and working in BC, they must have equal and full rights just as any person has rights by virtue of being human without threat of being forcibly removed from the country for uniting with fellow workers and defending their rights at the workplace.

Working people must organize and provide BC with a new pro-social direction and agenda. The starting point of such a task is to defeat in this election the neo-liberal anti-social Liberal Party of the monopolies. This means taking up actions with analysis to defeat Liberal Party candidates in key ridings that will guarantee the Clark Liberals will not form the next government. Within this mobilization, discussion must begin as to what direction and agenda are necessary for the province and country, and what aim and program the legal will should assume so that the rights of all are defended and the economy serves the people and not the global monopolies.

Who decides and who controls the direction of political and economic affairs are central to any political process including the BC election. Are the actual producers of the wealth, the working class and other working people, in an equal position to elect and be elected as those who own and control the basic sectors of the economy? This discussion needs to take place right in the midst of the election. The Liberal Party recently paid a huge amount of money for a televised full half hour political campaign spot highlighting Premier Clark. The Liberal Party reportedly has an $11 million war chest to ensure it wins this election and retains power to enforce its anti-social agenda. Most of that money comes from the coffers of monopolies who have claimed it as profit from added-value produced by the BC working class.

First Nations who are defending their hereditary and constitutional rights, workers and small businesspeople do not have the same access to money and exposure in the mass media as these Liberal politicians and others who are showered with great wealth and privilege. The people must discuss and address this problem of unequal right to elect and be elected in the context of defeating the Liberal Party in power. This democratic deficit should encourage the working class and its allies to unite and work even harder in this election to defeat the anti-social Clark Liberals.

The starting point of a new pro-social direction for the economy and democratic political process is to defeat the Liberal Party in power and deny it forming the next government. Join this important work for a new direction. Unite with all those who are fighting to defeat the anti-social austerity agenda of the Clark Liberals!

Party Standings Prior to 40th BC Provincial Election

The 40th British Columbia general election is now underway. The dropping of the writ takes place on April 16 and Election Day is May 14 for a campaign of 28 days.

At the dissolution of the Legislature, the BC Liberal Party formed the government with 45 seats, the NDP  official opposition had 36 seats and four seats were held by independents, for a total of 85 seats. The Liberals received 45.83 per cent of the votes cast by registered voters in the 2009 election, while the NDP received 42.14 per cent.

The Liberals were elected in 2009 with Gordon Campbell as leader. Following his resignation in 2010, Christy Clark, who was not a member of the Legislature, became leader and the Premier. She subsequently won a by-election in Point Grey.

The NDP was led by Carol James during the 2009 election. James also resigned in 2010 and Adrian Dix was elected leader of the NDP.

Seventeen Liberal incumbents have announced that they will not run for re-election in 2013. Five New Democrats and one independent have also announced their retirement.

Potential candidates have until April 26 at 1 pm to submit their nominations.

General voter registration is available from April 16 to April 23. To register online, click here. A BC driver's licence or social insurance number will be required. This site can also be used to update an existing registration.

Advanced polls begin on May 8 and continue until May 11.

As of April 13, there are 26 registered political parties eligible to field candidates. They are:

Advocational International Democratic Party of British Columbia
BC Vision
BC First Party
BC Marijuana Party
BC NDP
BC Refederation Party
British Columbia Conservative Party
British Columbia Excalibur Party
British Columbia Liberal Party
British Columbia Libertarian Party
British Columbia Party
British Columbia Patriot Party
British Columbia Social Credit Party
Christian Heritage Party of British Columbia
Communist Party of BC
Green Party Political Association of British Columbia
Helping Hand Party
New Wave
People's Front
Platinum Party of Employers Who Think and Act to Increase Awareness
Progressive Nationalist Party of British Columbia
Reform Party of British Columbia
Unparty: The Consensus-Building Party
Western Canada Concept Party of BC
Work Less Party of British Columbia
Your Political Party of BC

Discussion on the Need to Empower the Elector

Fixed Date Elections Still Pose the Need for
Democratic Renewal

- Dorothy-Jean O'Donnell -

The third election in BC under the fixed date election system is set to take place on May 14. The legislation implementing this system was passed on June 27, 2001. BC was the first jurisdiction in Canada to bring in the fixed date election. Today, similar legislation exists in eight provinces and territories, most recently in Alberta, which adopted the system on December 8, 2011.

The Federal government implemented its own version of fixed date elections on May 3, 2007. Despite this, the last two federal elections were not held on a fixed date occurring instead on October 14, 2008 and May 2, 2011. Turnout of eligible voters in those two elections was 58.8 per cent and 61.1 per cent respectively.

The 2008 federal election occurred because Prime Minister Harper asked the Governor General to call it, labeling the 39th Parliament as dysfunctional. The 2011 election was called after a non-confidence motion held the government "in contempt of parliament." Opposition parties had also expressed an intention to vote against the budget. These two mechanisms, the government of the day calling an election "at will" and the opposition in the Legislature defeating the government on a vote of confidence have both been maintained in all jurisdictions in Canada that have moved to fixed dates.

Voter turnout in fixed date BC elections on May 17, 2005 and May 12, 2009 was 58.2 per cent and 50.99 per cent respectively. On those election dates, referenda were also held on an alternate voting system, the Single Transferrable Vote (STV). In 2005, the proposal received support of 58 per cent of voters just shy of the 60 per cent threshold required. In 2009, the STV proposal with specific ridings defined received the support of 39.9 per cent of voters.

In 2005, voters were asked: "Should British Columbia change to the BC-STV electoral system as recommended by the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform?"

In 2009, they were asked: "Which electoral system should British Columbia use to elect members to the provincial Legislative Assembly?

- The existing electoral system (First-Past-the-Post)
- The single transferable vote electoral system (BC-STV) proposed by the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform"

One of the important things about the efforts towards the STV and the successful 2011 referendum against the Harmonized Sales Tax was that the electorate began to have a sense of itself outside of a definition in terms of party politics or its division between "left" and "right."

Widespread sentiment exists that something is wrong with the existing electoral setup. Such sentiment expresses itself in criticism of electoral manipulation by political insiders and the cartel party system, and concern about the concentration of power in the Premier's office. However, efforts at democratic renewal of the political process have been stalled in part by the artificial division of the electorate between "left" and "right" and the domination of the public political space by political parties dedicated to striving for power and holding and keeping that power. Those political parties have no desire for change to empower the electorate, as it does not serve their interests or those of their principal backers.

Former Vancouver Mayor Gordon Campbell led the Liberals from 1993 until February 2011. In the 1996 election, the Campbell Liberals formed the opposition yet received more votes than the NDP. In 2001, the Liberals won a "landslide" reducing the NDP to two seats with the Liberals obtaining 57 per cent of the vote. Campbell used his majority to push through fixed election dates calling it a "democratic reform." He also appointed the Citizens' Assembly, which came up with the STV voting system and referendum that failed.

When Campbell resigned, his position as leader and Premier was taken over by Christy Clark, a former Cabinet member but at the time not a member of the BC Legislature. Clark won a party leadership contest with the support of only one sitting MLA and then barely won a seat in a Point Grey by-election.

Under the regionally weighted preferential ballot system used in her leadership race, Clark was able to garner support especially in non-Liberal ridings, where the small number of Liberal members meant that her supporters' votes were given more weight. Clark's victory in opposition to many Liberal insiders coupled with her involvement in the BC Rail sellout scandal early in the Campbell reign have left her vulnerable to "leaks" and internal party strife.

While fixed election dates are advertised as a measure of democratic reform aimed at curbing the ability of the party in power to call an election at will, the fact is that in all the jurisdictions in Canada where it has been implemented, the Royal Prerogative regarding the calling of elections remains intact.

Specifically since Clark became Premier, speculation has been rife during three periods that she would or should call an election before the fixed date. Initially this was to "get a mandate" as the new Premier and later in response to one or another of the seemingly endless internal leaks and problems plaguing her government. Now on the eve of the fixed election date, where the Liberals are widely expected to be defeated, certain mass media commentators suggest she resign to allow a Liberal Party rebuilding process to begin even before the ballots are counted on May 14. Other Liberal leaders have begun marshalling their forces for the 2017 fixed election date to ensure that the leader of the NDP, Adrian Dix, is a "one-term Premier" and Liberal Party insiders are back in government.

Fixed election dates have not changed the electoral process for the better, as the main problem of how to mobilize electors to empower themselves so as to democratize the political process remains. Without addressing this problem, then the roadblocks to the empowerment of the polity remain.

In the Name of Carbon Neutrality

Pay-the-Rich Corruption and Attacks
on Social Programs

- Charles Boylan -

On March 27, BC Auditor General John Doyle issued a report condemning instances of the Liberal government's "carbon neutral policy." Doyle says public institutions finance Pacific Carbon Trust (PCT), a crown corporation, which then hands the money over to private capitalist interests. Government funding meant to finance school boards, universities, hospitals and other public institutions is hived off as a "carbon tax" and handed over through PCT to pay the rich.

The "carbon neutral policy" simultaneously impoverishes BC's social programs and funnels public money to private capitalist interests. Public institutions have so far paid more than $50 million for their carbon emissions. That money has been used to fund greenhouse gas reductions projects at private sector pulp mills, sawmills, gas drilling rigs, hotels and greenhouses.

In addition, Doyle's report says in 2010 two of the funded private projects using money transferred from public institutions were blatantly fraudulent: the Encana gas drilling project and the Darkwoods forestry project. Those projects did not meet a key offset test in order to be provided the $6 million of public money handed to them in the name of "reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Doyle's report says, "Offsets can only be credible in British Columbia if, among other things, the revenue from their sale is the tipping point in moving forward on a project. It must be an incentive, not a subsidy, for the reduction of (greenhouse gases). However, neither project was able to demonstrate that the sale of offsets was needed for the project to be implemented."

Encana Gas Drilling Project

Encana is a $14.5 billion corporation centred in the 58 story tower, The Bow, in Calgary. Encana, presently involved in a massive joint energy project with a Chinese oil monopoly, had a gross income in 2011 of $8.457 billion. Subsidizing Encana with monies meant for public education and health care is a gross insult to the polity of BC and corruption of public policy. It must be noted that Encana donated $77,990 to the 2005 Liberal government election fund.

PCT gave the Encana monopoly public money for a project that was to be financially more profitable to the company than its previous industrial practice even if it did not receive any PCT offset money. That itself is a violation of the rules governing this carbon scam. Yet in the same time frame, the Cowichan School Board with a large First Nation student population located on Vancouver Island, was dismissed by the Minister of Education because it submitted a "needs budget" requesting $3 million more than allocated by the Ministry. One reason the Cowichan School Board needed additional funding to meet the needs of its students was that its budget was hit hard by carbon offset payments to PCT for fuel to heat the schools and propel the school buses!

The Liberal government fired the democratically elected Cowichan School Trustees, who defended the budget needs required to take minimal care of their K-12 students, while handing public money over to a private global monopoly and accepting money from that same company to finance its election campaign. Here one sees both the politicizing of private interests who in turn finance the political parties of the rich, and the marginalizing of public interests and attack on those who take a stand to defend social programs.

Darkwoods Forest Carbon Project

The second fraud singled out in Doyle's report is related to the Darkwoods forest carbon project. This is an even more bizarre story of private owners of capital advancing their private interests through the carbon trading fraud. Darkwoods is a 55,000 hectare property of rugged wilderness comprising the spine of the southern Selkirk Mountains bordering the southwestern corner of Kootenay Lake just east of Salmo, BC.

A rich German capitalist, Duke Carl Herzog von Württemberg, purchased this huge piece of BC wilderness in the mid 1960s. His Royal Highness Duke Friedrich von Württemberg, son of Carl, decided to sell the property in 2006. Apparently, pine beetle infestation, threat of forest fires and increased taxes incited this German billionaire family to sell the land, held by Pluto Darkwoods, the family's forestry company. They wanted around $100 million for it.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), a non-profit organization that owns vast land holdings in the name of conserving natural assets in Canada bought the Darkwoods property apparently financed in part by payments from PCT. The NCC is engaged in logging to make money for itself. The Auditor General argues that NCC logging projects and any carbon offset payments it requested did not qualify for PCT money and did not factor into the purchase of the Darkwoods property making PCT's handover of public money to NCC invalid.

Doyle's report says the carbon emissions claimed by both projects were overstated. Moreover, he says the PCT paid more for the carbon offsets than they would have received on the open market. Doyle claims the Climate Action Secretariat, a government agency, did not provide sufficient oversight, leaving the PCT as both a regulator and purchaser of carbon offsets. The cutback of public regulators in BC has made industry increasingly self-regulating, i.e. given a free hand to violate public interests for its own private profits.

In an April 2012 exposé of carbon trading and offsets, the Vancouver Sun newspaper said, "22 out of 25 projects were already underway when they were given millions of dollars in incentives by the [PCT] to reduce emissions." The newspaper also uncovered that some of the projects awarded money by the PCT had already been given tax reductions, fuel savings and other government subsidies, in one case a $100 million grant from the Harper government. The incoherence is such that the PCT has forced public institutions to pay it more than $50 million out of budgets that are already squeezed dry and have no additional revenue for energy improvement projects.

The BC election on May 14 is an opportunity for the working class to discuss how to strengthen their independent politics to put an end to this shameless corruption, pay-the-rich schemes and attacks on social programs.

(With reports from The Sun, Georgia Straight, Wikipedia, Canadian Geographic, Nature Conservancy of Canada)

All Out to Support the People of Venezuela!

Victory for Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuelan Presidential Election

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro joins a sea of people filling Bolivar Avenue in Caracas to
celebrate the people's victory, April 14, 2013.

The majority of the electorate in Venezuela voted on April 14 for the continuation of the Bolivarian Revolution and in support of the legacy of their commander, President Hugo Chávez who died on March 5. Acting President Nicolás Maduro won the election with 50.75 per cent of the vote in a campaign in which the fifth column of the U.S. imperialists and Venezuelan oligarchy played very dirty indeed. This included massive media disinformation, acts of sabotage of electrical power and basic necessities of life and attempts at destabilization in which mercenaries were caught red handed, including with massive amounts of weaponry. The new trick of the fifth column is to now question the legitimacy of the vote and continue to promote the destabilization of the country in that way.

TML calls on all Canadians to go all out to support the people of Venezuela by demanding that the verdict of the electorate be respected. They have chosen Nicolás Maduro to be the next President of Venezuela. Support President Maduro's call for peace! All out to support the Bolivarian Revolution! Chávez Lives! The Struggle Continues!

Election Results

Maduro won the election with a nearly two point lead. He received 50.75 per cent of the vote, securing 7,559,349 votes, and Capriles received 48.98 per cent of the vote, securing 7,296,876 votes. The other four candidates received less than 39,000 votes combined.

Maduro won in 15 states -- Amazonas, Apure, Aragua, Barinas, Carabobo, Cojedes, Delta Amacuro, Falcon, Guarico, Monagas, Portuguesa, Sucre, Trujillo, Vargas and Yaracuy -- plus the Capital District. Meanwhile, Capriles won the most votes in the country's remaining eight states: Anzoategui, Bolivar, Lara, Merida, Miranda, Nueva Esparta, Tachira and Zulia.

Voter turnout was 79 per cent. Nearly 19 million voters registered, including approximately 100,000 from outside the country. Nearly 3.5 million voters did not vote.

Cheering crowds greet President Maduro after he casts his vote, April 14, 2013.

The President of the National Electoral Council (CNE) Tibisay Lucena chided Capriles for using media disinformation to declare he would not recognize the results and to discredit the CNE and demand a recount. She pointed out that there are provisions in the law and the Constitution for those who are not in agreement with the results to contest them. Until the announcement of the official results, no official demand for a recount was made. She mentioned that the day before, 54 per cent of the votes were verified according to the established norms. An electoral process and institution that was good yesterday, when the results favoured Capriles in the State of Miranda when he was elected governor in December with a majority of barely 30,000 votes, cannot today be declared unjust when the results don't favour him, she said.

Tibisay Lucena, President of the National Electoral Council (centre), announces the results in the 2013 presidential election, April 14, 2013.

Speaking to the thousands of supporters of the Bolivarian revolution outside the Miraflores Presidential Palace, Nicolás Maduro said, "Today we have a just, legal, constitutional and popular victory." Referring to the demand for a recount Maduro said, "I said yesterday and today, you heard me, if I win by one vote, I win. If I lose by one vote I will immediately leave and respect the Constitution. The electoral power has said what the will of the people is." He mentioned that Capriles had called him to make a deal, and he responded, "I said no, that the CNE gave the results as they stand, and I told Capriles publicly that if I lost by one vote I would give you the Presidency tomorrow, but that's not how it happened. I won by nearly 300,000 votes, it is the people's decision." He stressed that there could be no deal between them and that the CNE must do its work and that Capriles must recognize the victory of the revolution.

Shortly after the results were announced, the Defence Minister, Admiral Chief Morelo Diego, said that the Bolivarian National Armed Forces of Venezuela (Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana -- FANB) will safeguard the election results. Major General Wilmer Barrientos, Commander of the Operational Strategic Command, said that the institution will comply with the will of the people.

Amongst those who extended President Maduro congratulations was Cuban President Rául Castro, who said, "This decisive victory and your loyalty to the people will ensure the continuation of the Bolivarian revolution and genuine integration of Our America."

Extracts from Speech by Nicolás Maduro at the
End of the Election Campaign

[...] Chávez's legacy is so profound that opposition leaders, who vilified him only months ago, now insist they will defend his achievements. But Venezuelans remember how many of these same figures supported an ill-fated coup against Chávez in 2002 and sought to reverse policies that have dramatically reduced poverty and inequality.

To grasp the scale of what has been achieved, it's necessary to recall the state of my country when Chávez took office in 1999. In the previous 20 years Venezuela had suffered one of the sharpest economic declines in the world. As a result of neoliberal policies that favoured transnational capital at the expense of people's basic needs, poverty soared. A draconian market-oriented agenda was imposed through massive repression, including the 1989 massacre of thousands in what is known as the Caracazo.

This disastrous trend was reversed under Chávez. Once the government was able to assert effective control over the state oil company in 2003, we began investing oil revenue in social programmes that now provide free healthcare and education throughout the country. The economic situation vastly improved. Poverty and extreme poverty have been reduced dramatically. Today Venezuela has the lowest rate of income inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean.

As a result our government has won almost every election or referendum since 1998 -- 16 in all -- in a democratic process the former US president Jimmy Carter called "the best in the world." If you haven't heard much about these accomplishments, it may have something to do with the influence of Washington and its allies on the international media. They have been trying to de-legitimise and get rid of our government for more than a decade, ever since they supported the 2002 coup.

We have also worked to transform the region: to unite the countries of Latin America and work together to address the causes and symptoms of poverty. Venezuela was central to the creation of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), aimed at promoting social and economic development and political co-operation.

The media myth that our political project would fall apart without Chávez was a fundamental misreading of Venezuela's revolution. Chávez has left a solid edifice, its foundation a broad, united movement that supports the process of transformation. We've lost our extraordinary leader, but his project -- built collectively by workers, farmers, women, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, and the young -- is more alive than ever.

The media often portray Venezuela as on the brink of economic collapse -- but our economy is stronger than ever. We have a low debt burden and a significant trade surplus, and have accumulated close to $30 billions in international reserves.

There are of course many challenges still to overcome, as Chávez himself acknowledged. Among my primary objectives is the need to intensify our efforts to curb crime and aggressively confront inefficiency and corruption in a nationwide campaign.

Internationally, we will continue to work with our neighbours to deepen regional integration and fight poverty and social injustice. It's a vision now shared across the region, which is why my candidacy has received strong support from figures such as the former Brazilian president Lula da Silva and many Latin American social movements. We also remain committed to promoting regional peace and stability, and this is why we will continue our energetic support of the peace talks in Colombia.

Latin America today is experiencing a profound political and social renaissance -- a second independence -- after decades of surrendering its sovereignty and freedom to global powers and transnational interests. Under my presidency, Venezuela will continue supporting this regional transformation and building a new form of socialism for our times. With the support of progressive people from every continent, we're confident Venezuela can give a new impetus to the struggle for a more equitable, just and peaceful world.

President Maduro and his wife and fellow politician Cilia Flores pay their respects to Hugo Chávez at the Montana Barracks after exercising their right to vote, April 14, 2013 (left). At the victory celebrations later that day, President Maduro holds up a copy of Venezuela’s Socialist Plan of the Nation 2013-2019, for which Hugo Chávez was re-elected in 2012, now entrusted to President Maduro and the Venezuelan people to elaborate.

(Photos/Graphics: VTV, SiBCI, AVN, TeleSUR, O. Martinez)