A commentary by a professor of Canadian history at the University of Victoria.
Voting matters. In this world where voter apathy is a growing problem, this argument has to be made loudly and clearly.
Voting is always important, but this is particularly true in this provincial election.
B.C. electors face a stark choice. It’s a choice that requires voters, even more than usual, to cut through the pretty words to really understand how those words would impact you.
Historically, B.C. has always had a more polarized political system than anywhere else in Canada. When more than one right-leaning party existed in the province, business leaders have pressured those parties to form coalitions or to unite, to try and ensure that a business friendly government comes into power.
This has been happening in B.C. since the Second World War, when the business community feared the growing popularity of the CCF, the pre-cursor to the NDP.
Kevin Falcon of BC United took some time to cave to business pressure, but in doing so, he made it much more possible that the B.C. Conservatives might win Saturday’s election and bring in a “business-friendly” government.
The Conservatives have some good wordsmiths working for them, and they are doing their best to present themselves as the party of “common sense” and against the “ideology” of the NDP.
But one person’s common sense is another person’s ideology. Is being business-friendly “common sense” or ideological?
What about seeing the value of unions and robust social services? Being business-friendly is not necessarily a bad thing.
But as we saw at the beginning of the 21st century, with the B.C. Liberals, if being business-friendly means major layoffs, the ripping up of collective agreements and the slashing of services British Columbians need to survive, then it’s not a good thing, at least not for most British Columbians.
Is privatizing significant parts of our health-care system, as is part of the Conservatives’ platform, common sense, or ideology?
What about making it much easier to set up new mines in B.C., which would mean reducing environment assessments and oversight? What about ending the NDP’s major efforts to increase the supply of housing in B.C., which even the business-friendly Globe and Mail has endorsed, as compared to the Conservatives’ platform, which will do nothing to increase housing supply?
What about reducing the rights currently guaranteed to Indigenous peoples in this province?
What about leaving LGBTQ children and youth vulnerable to hate and more at risk of suicide, with the elimination of SOGI in the schools?
What about gutting much of B.C.’s already underfunded post-secondary system, and reallocating funding to a few “practical” areas like engineering, medicine and the skilled trades? These sectors absolutely need more support, but do the Conservatives really want to slash already limited resources available for the teaching of humanities, social science and fine arts?
Perhaps they do, because as we have seen in the United States, if people do not understand their history, and have not been taught how to think critically, then misinformation, disguised as common sense, becomes much easier to sell.
Voting doesn’t just bring in a new government. It can lead to longstanding changes, with negative impacts that can take decades to reverse.
Earlier federal and provincial housing policy — or the lack thereof — has led to the housing shortages and constantly rising prices we see today. A reduction in the number of medical students admitted to Canadian medical schools in the early 1990s — a political decision — has helped create the physician shortages of today.
The NDP and the Greens are far from perfect — but in somewhat different ways both are trying to address the legacy of these and other pressing issues.
Conservative solutions may help some British Columbians, and will certainly be better for business interests. But plans to cut and privatize programs can exacerbate existing problems, and have long-term negative impacts that British Columbians may be living with for many years to come.
We all have different views, based in part on where we stand, as to what is common sense, and what is ideology.
But I hope that British Columbians will make their decisions about how they vote this week on the basis of their own interests, and those of future generations, and not on the slick wordsmithing of the political class.
