Every province has its own style of electioneering, but B.C. is in a class of its own. Today’s program is a look at the issues as we head up to B.C. E-day. The election is on May 9.
We put this show together on Wednesday, May 3. We’ve got seven days now until e-day, and we know that things can turn on a dime. The interviews you will hear were recorded at the end of last week on April 28.
The people you’ll hear from today will give you a sense of what the issues are, and the changes that they think need to happen in B.C.
1. Alyse Kotyk is a writer for rabble.ca, whose work has also appeared in the Globe and Mail and the Vancouver Observer. She has also written for Quietly Media, where she completed over 450 pieces about mental health and wellness. Previously, she was the editor of Servants Quarters, a publication with an international audience that highlights reflections by individuals working within urban poor communities. She has also written for onQ magazine, the Queen’s University Gazette and for several non-profits.
In today’s program she talks about her article: B.C.’s students serve notice to Kinder Morgan and Premier Clark for provincial election.
2. Libby Davies is well known to rabble readers and anyone who follows federal politics. She was a city councillor in Vancouver for many years beginning in the 1980s. She entered federal politics as the NDP member of Parliament for Vancouver East in 1997. She was re-elected in November 2000, June 2004, January 2006, October 2008, and most recently in May 2011. After serving six terms, and 18 years, as the member of Parliament for Vancouver East, Libby did not run in the 2015 general federal election. She is now retired from politics and living in Vancouver.
3. The Current Situation — a sound-rich reflection on B.C. politics by rabble podcast network executive producer Victoria Fenner. She describes the piece as an introduction to the neoliberal politics that date back 30 years. “I moved from Ontario in 1982, a time when the B.C. Socred government was ramming through all kinds of austerity measures. It was a crazy time — Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan had just begun their reigns of error. There was a lot of sabre rattling and fears of nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia. During my time in B.C., I learned that B.C. politics and citizen involvement was very different than it was in sedate Ontario which had a Conservative government for 45 years that some would describe as being Red Tory. Not like the conservative governments of today. Though my first introduction to neoliberal politics was shocking, it provided a base from which to understand the neoliberal tide that swept across the country in the 30 years hence. And even more important, B.C. activists taught me how to mobilize through media.”
She thanks Vancouver Co-op Radio for her early lessons in activist media and creative radio production.
rabble radio is a production of rabble.ca.
Hosts: Victoria Fenner and Sophia Reuss.
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/markklotz/15794492446
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