[BC_Labour_E-NEWS] October 29, 2004

[bc_labour_enews at bcfed.net]

BC LABOUR NEWS NETWORK
Electronic News from the B.C. Federation of Labour
October 29, 2004
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CONTENTS
1> By-Election results a victory for working people
2> Restore health care and education services with budget surplus - HEU
poll
3> BC NDP's commitment to freeze tuition fees a good first step -
students
4> BCGEU calls on Campbell Liberals to put the brakes on outsourcing
British Columbians' personal information
5> "Clean Energy" classification provides massive loophole for
independent power producers: Burning coal and garbage called "clean"
under BC Liberal guidelines
 
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PUBLICATIONS - Eye on the Economy - October, 2004
 
The latest issue of Eye on the Economy is ready to download from the
publications section of our website:
 
< http://www.bcfed.com/Where+We+Stand/Publications/index.htm >
 
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EVENT LISTINGS - Visit website for details:
 
< http://www.bcfed.com/Coming+Events/index.htm >
Documentary Screening of "The Corporation"
10/06/2004
COURSE: Changes to Occupational Health and Safety Regulations
11/16/2004
B.C. Federation of Labour Conference: Young Workers Resist
11/28/2004
B.C. Federation of Labour 48th Convention
11/29/2004
 
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1> By-Election results a victory for working people
 
B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair says the October 28
victory in the Surrey-Panorama Ridge By-Election is the surest sign that
voters have had enough of the BC Liberals.
 
"The Liberals pumped millions of dollars into this campaign and put a
lot of credibility on the line to get their candidate elected," said
Sinclair.  "But the results show voters weren't fooled by Gordon
Campbell's empty promises."
 
While the riding was viewed by many pundits as safe BC Liberal
territory, voters sent Gordon Campbell a strong message that his
reckless and mean-spirited agenda just isn't working.  Jagrup Brar, the
new MLA for Surrey-Panorama Ridge, won the hotly contested By-Election
with 53.5 percent of the vote.  Mary Polak, the controversial BC Liberal
candidate, received just over 33 percent of the vote.
 
While some pundits were surprised by the NDP victory, the BC Liberals
ignored the message voters in Surrey had just sent, and were quick to
point figures blaming the labour movement and others for their loss.
 
"If Gordon Campbell is looking for reasons for the BC Liberals' defeat
he should just look in the mirror," added Sinclair.  "Campbell has
governed this province as though working families, seniors, students and
their communities don't matter, and this win clearly shows that we do."
 
Surrey-Panorama Ridge by-election results:
 
BRAR, Jagrup (New Democratic Party of BC)
     6,662 - 53.5 percent
CARR, Adriane (Green Party of BC)
     1,052 - 8.4 percent
POLAK, Mary (BC Liberal Party)
     4,160 - 33.4%
OTHER
     583 - 4.7 percent
Total Votes Cast 
     12,457
 
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2> Restore health care and education services with budget surplus - HEU
poll
 
Two out of three British Columbians believe the billion dollar budget
surplus forecast by the Campbell Liberal government should be used to
restore services such as health care and education, according to a
Mustel Group poll conducted for the Hospital Employees' Union.
 
Twenty-five percent support debt reduction, while only 12 percent
support a tax cut as a result of the surplus.
 
Support for restoring services like health care and education with the
budget surplus was especially high amongst women (73 percent).
 
"Nobody should be surprised by the public's clear preference for
restoring public services over tax cuts and debt reduction," says HEU's
Acting Secretary-Business Manager Zorica Bosancic.  "After all, so many
British Columbians have been hurt by this government's fiscal policies."
 
Since their election, the Campbell Liberals have closed hospitals and
schools, raised tuition fees, cut funding to women's centres and closed
long-term care beds for seniors.  They've also fired more than 8,000
health care workers and imposed 15 percent wage rollbacks on tens of
thousands more.
 
"The price paid by British Columbians to create this thinly-disguised
election surplus has been too steep," says Bosancic.  "It's time to deal
with the real deficit this government has created in our schools,
hospitals and communities."
 
The telephone poll of 507 British Columbians was conducted October 6 to
17.  It is considered accurate to within 4.4 percent, 19 times out of
20.
 
The question:
The provincial government is forecasting a budget surplus of
approximately one billion dollars.  Which of the following is your
priority?
 
Total polled (507)
Reinvest in such services as health care and education
     312 or 62 percent
Use the surplus to reduce the debt
     128 or 25 percent
Reduce taxes
     60 or 12 percent
Don't know
     7 or 1 percent
 
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3> BC NDP's commitment to freeze tuition fees a good first step -
students
 
BC students say NDP leader Carole James' election platform commitment of
freezing tuition fees to current levels is a good first step for British
Columbian families struggling to pay tuition fees which have more than
doubled in the last three years.
 
"Students cannot withstand yet another tuition fee increase," said Lisa
MacLeod, BC Chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students.  "It is
absolutely necessary to freeze tuition fees now to ensure that the
accessibility of BC colleges and universities does not erode even
further."
 
BC government service plans project revenue from tuition fees to
increase from $452 million this year, to $836 million for 2006/07.  BC
students have already experienced an average 104 percent increase in
tuition fees since the freeze was lifted in 2002.
 
"The BC government's expensive television advertising campaign claims
the addition of 25,000 new student spaces by 2010, but how the
government plans on funding those spaces is not getting any airtime,"
said MacLeod.  "Without an immediate freeze on tuition fees,
post-secondary education institutions will pay for those spaces by
passing the costs onto students."
 
This year, more than half of Canadian university students are protected
by tuition fee freezes, while students in BC continue to experience the
largest tuition fee increases in the province's history.
 
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4> BCGEU calls on Campbell Liberals to put the brakes on outsourcing
British Columbians' personal information
 
The BC Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) is calling on the
Campbell Liberals to hold off on any plans to contract out the
administration of the personal and confidential information of British
Columbians in wake of the BC Privacy Commissioner's report released
today.
 
"We were right.  The Privacy Commissioner's report confirms the USA
Patriot Act is a huge threat to the privacy of British Columbians, and
validates the concerns we raised.  There's no iron-clad guarantee that
the FBI won't or can't access our personal information once it's handed
over to American-linked companies," said George Heyman, BCGEU President.
 
"Commissioner Loukidelis has set a very high bar for the government to
jump over before it can outsource our personal medical and financial
information to American-linked companies.  It's going to take a lot more
than just amending a law or re-jigging a contract to comply with his
extensive list of recommendations.
 
"The only rational response for the BC government is to put the brakes
on outsourcing.  Not only is it a simple, pragmatic solution to the
problem, it's more immediate and a lot less expensive than compliance
with the Commissioner's recommendations," Heyman said.
 
Heyman praised the Privacy Commissioner for his thorough investigation,
which must have been "a monumental task" given the complexities of the
issues and the huge number of submissions from civil liberties groups,
academics, unions, advocacy groups, the legal community, and individuals
concerned about protecting the public's right to privacy.
 
"The Commissioner points out this is far more than just a provincial
issue - the protection of personal information from foreign orders is an
issue that needs to be addressed at the federal and even international
levels.  That could take years," Heyman said.
 
The BCGEU was the first to raise the alarm about the implications of the
USA Patriot Act by issuing a court challenge over the contracting out of
the administration of the Medical Services Plan (MSP) to the
Arizona-based Maximus Corporation.  The government is also contracting
out PharmaCare, government payroll, Provincial Revenue, disaster
recovery, and workstation support services.
 
Heyman said the union will continue to pursue the matter through the
courts and is considering a range of legal options, including seeking an
injunction to stop the signing of any further contracts with US-linked
companies until the government fulfills the recommendations contained in
the Privacy Commissioner's report.
 
Personal information at risk through the outsourcing of Provincial
Revenue functions alone includes everything from name, address,
telephone number, social insurance number, family history, employment
history, income, credit card and bank account numbers, and even
charitable donations and mortgage details.
 
The contract to administer MSP and PharmaCare includes access to an
individual's medical reports, psychological and mental health reports,
x-rays, photographs, details of surgeries, prescription history,
doctors' names, and any restrictions on individual doctors prohibiting
them from writing certain prescriptions.
 
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5> "Clean Energy" classification provides massive loophole for
independent power producers (IPPs): Burning coal and garbage called
"clean" under BC Liberal guidelines
 
Independent power producers are exploiting a massive loophole in the BC
"Clean Energy Guidelines" by developing proposals to burn dirty fuels
such as coal and garbage, says the BC Citizens for Public Power, a BC
Hydro watchdog group.
 
"Projects throughout the province are being classified as 'BC Clean'
despite the fact they propose to burn all kinds of polluting fuels,
including coal," says Mark Veerkamp, Executive Director for the BC
Citizens for Public Power.
 
One example is a project currently under development by Compliance
Energy Corporation (CEC) near Princeton, BC.  The Similkameen Spotlight
reports that Compliance Energy plans to convert the Similco Mine site
into a 50 MW wood waste/coal fired thermal plant ("Thermal Plant
Planned", October 15, 2004).
 
According to a February 2004 news release posted on the Compliance
Energy website, "by using wood waste from the area the project would
have positive environmental attributes and would meet the classification
of "Clean Energy" under the provincial government's recently released
Energy Plan, while utilization of Compliance's new coal mine for the
remainder of the fuel requirements is a natural fit."
 
On page six of the Ministry of Energy and Mines BC Clean Electricity
Guidelines (April 2004), "clean energy" includes biomass defined as
"energy derived from organic matter, such as wood residue, agricultural
waste, or other organic wastes.  BC Clean includes the energy derived
either at dedicated biomass combustion or gasification facilities, or
the energy component related to biomass utilized in conjunction with
combustion of conventional energy sources."  In the document, coal is
defined as a conventional energy source.
 
"Clearly IPPs have gotten the message that if they propose to burn wood
waste, the plant will meet BC Clean standards, despite the fact they
plan to also burn coal," said Veerkamp.  "This is an outrageous loophole
that defies logic." 
 
"The 'BC Clean' designation is a dirty little secret that mocks the idea
of green power," said Veerkamp.  "If this is the government's idea of a
New Era for clean energy, we're in big trouble."
 
Another example is a project by Green Island Energy in Gold River on
Vancouver Island.  This project, promoted by folk singer Jewel, was
originally conceived as a 45MW plant to burn wood waste.  This project
has been deemed a 'green' project and is being considered in the
Vancouver Island call for tenders.
 
Now, Green Island Energy has submitted notice that it would also be
burning Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), also known simply as garbage.  Green
Island proposes to burn 480,000 tonnes of RDF annually and will use coal
as the backup fuel (letter to Regional Waste Manager dated June 30,
2004).  Burning RDF has raised concerns about release of dioxin and
other toxic pollutants.
 
Both the Green Island Energy and Compliance Projects are staging
development and as a result will most likely avoid environmental
assessment (which kicks in for projects with output above 50 MW).
 
"Not only does the government intend to promote independent power
producers at higher cost to the public, but now they have left a nice
big loophole that will mean more pollution," said Veerkamp.
 
Under the BC Energy Plan, 50 percent of new power is targeted to come
from 'clean' sources.
 
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