"Far to the left of the NDP, far greener than the Greens" -- New leftist party launched in BC

Calling themselves "Far to the left of the NDP, far greener than the Greens", a group of activists in British Columbia have launched a new leftist initiative and party, the BC Ecosocialists.

According to their website, the party is needed as they "reject the notion that the BC NDP and the BC Green Party are left wing, or Green. Let’s face it, the BC NDP and BC Green Party stand for a set of environmental and social policies pretty much the same as those of George H W Bush’s presidency (1988-92), Brian Mulroney’s conservative government (1984-93), Bill Vander Zalm’s Social Credit Party (1986-91) and Gordon Campbell’s Non-Partisan Association (1986-93). We do not believe that conservative policies from the 1980s are left-wing."

Unlike the NDP-Green coalition that governs the province they "want to tax rich people and corporations to fund better policies, like building tens of thousands of units of public social housing, employing people to build new green energy and transportation infrastructure, and stopping all new fossil fuel infrastructure, including all LNG. We would also stop Site C, and close the coal mines."

They lay out their initial policy proposals on their Policy page while also answering questions like "But you know you can’t win under this voting system. Be practical! Why are you doing this?" and "Why are you splitting the left wing/environmentalist vote" on their FAQ page.

Among those involved in the initiative are former BC Green leader Stuart Parker, former Duncan city councilor Sharon Jackson, activists and organizers Alannah New-Small and Amrita Parmar,  and singer-songwriter Geoff Berner.

To learn more or get involved you can check them out at: http://www.bcecosocialist.ca/

Blind partisan hypocrisy is not what we need to confront the climate crisis

It is amazing how partisan hypocrisy continues to undermine any serious attempt to confront the staggering climate crisis and emergency that faces us. 

While it is certainly unfortunate and disappointing that the B.C. Court of Appeal unanimously ruled against the BC NDP government determining that "British Columbia doesn't have the right to impose environmental laws that could kill the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion", it is simply farcical to claim that the BC NDP is "trying to protect" the right of Canadians to "a clean environment" as federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh does in the above tweet.

From its appalling "sort-of" reversal on the Site C project that led NDP Premier John Horgan to opine "When it comes to reconciliation and working with Indigenous leadership there has been over 150 years of disappointment in British Columbia. I’m not the first person to stand before you and disappoint Indigenous people." to its support of fracking with the LNG project the BC NDP has a profoundly selective version of "trying to protect" the environment. 

We also must not forget the shameful BC RCMP invasion of Wet'suwet'en territory where officers armed with assault and sniper rifles arrested peaceful protesters on their own lands, all under the NDP's watch, and all in support of building a pipeline! 

As long as this kind of partisan blindness exists that would allow Singh to make a statement that is so ludicrously out of whack with reality any supposed commitment to an alleged "Green New Deal" can't be seen as anything more than a cynical election ploy. 

See also: The staggering hypocrisy of 'progressive' politicians in Canada will come back to haunt

BC NDP posts a meme about "foreign" workers -- Xenophobes show up in approval

There is a wing of the left -- and especially within the mainstream "social democratic" party, the NDP -- that thinks that the path to power is in part paved by pandering to what are traditionally right-wing populist narratives.

But that is, to say the least, a double-edged sword for a variety of reasons -- as the ONDP found out in the last provincial election.

Yesterday, the BC NDP, as part of its campaign to oppose BC Premier Christy Clark's LNG plan created and posted on Facebook the meme presented here.

It has been fairly widely shared. 

Whatever one thinks of the LNG plan or the Temporary Foreign Worker program, the clear intent here is to appeal to people who feel that too many "foreigners" are taking "Canadian" jobs from "Canadians". 

As one might expect, a variety of xenophobic and disturbing angry comments appeared on the BC NDP page -- comments that they did not see fit to moderate for whatever reason.

Sometimes undue commentary is unnecessary. You can judge the comments for yourselves. I have chosen to blank out the names of those who posted the comments despite them having posted these comments publicly and despite the fact that they are all still up on the page and under the meme as of the posting of this piece.

Warning. They are offensive. (Click on image to enlarge).

This is what you get when you try to pander to these views. There were, again at the time of posting, very few contrary comments. 

Why these comments were left up you can decide for yourself.

"Foreign" workers are not the problem. The bosses and our governments are. Trying to divide workers by race and nation and to turn them against each other is one of the oldest and most grotesque capitalist tactics. It is also a fundamental part of far right narratives that are very dangerous. 

While right-wing populists often play to this to get votes and stir up fear and division, surely we should expect better of the "left". 

Politicians and parties that play with this are playing with the most incendiary and reactionary fire.

I hope the BC NDP is proud.