[mobglob-discuss] Press release - On to the second stage and the defeat of the BC Liberals - Barsallo ends first stage of nomination campaign with 500 new members.

[Alan Ward]

PRESS RELEASE


“Our campaign starts with the community,
  and belongs to the community.
  I am fighting the nomination race with the same tools
  I have used for the past four years to fight the BC Liberals
  and build the NDP in Vancouver-Kingsway:
  going out into the community and talking to people.”

Alicia Barsallo

TEACHER, LAW GRADUATE, AUTHOR, AND ENTREPRENEUR,
BARSALLO IS PROUD TO HAVE REACHED THE 500 NEW MEMBER MARK AT THE END OF
STAGE ONE OF THE NOMINATION RACE.

“I am extremely grateful to friends and supporters who have taken time to
help,” says Alicia, exhilarated with the prospect of embarking on yet
another challenge.  She must now make sure her supporters take the time to
attend Vancouver-Kingsway’s nomination meeting on December 5th.

The BC Liberals must be soundly defeated and strong representatives sent to
Victoria if we are going to have a chance to take back our province.  Alicia
thinks that it is after the election that the real work begins.

“If BC is to have any chance of recovering its human face and the resources
that are being squandered, privatization and the tax give-aways to the rich
must end,” says Alicia.  “But that will only happen if, as a community, we
unite in action.”

Barsallo, who meets with her fellow residents of Vancouver-Kingsway on an
ongoing basis, intends to continue to do just that after being elected.  “I
will continue to talk to my neighbours -- in their homes, in churches, at
community centres (Collingwood, Renfrew, Trout Lake), at community
festivals, and in the common rooms of our housing co-operatives,” she adds.

As MLA, Alicia Barsallo intends to unite the voices of Kingsway residents to
demand the re-opening of schools and hospitals.  She plans to call for lower
MSP fees and lower post-secondary fees.  She will demand a return to a
well-funded health care system and its growth to meet the needs of all BC
residents.

Barsallo, who in the past four years led her NDP constituency into active
solidarity with workers on the picket line, is also determined to achieve
fair and safe working conditions for all BC workers, including a minimum
wage that puts all full-time workers above the poverty line.

“Whenever we wonder how far we must go in defending our right to timely
surgery and first-rate attention in a hospital; whenever we wonder just how
much we must sacrifice to protect our seniors and our youth, think about
HEU,” says Alicia who last spring met with many HEU workers on the picket
line at Three Links, Sunny Hill Hospital and Lakeview care home.

“Think about the courage that it took to risk their jobs to defy unfair
legislation from the picket line.  Think about what it took to defy the odds
and stand up for fairness and respect.”

Barsallo feels that it’s about time Victoria rose up to those standards.

Alicia Barsallo
can be reached at 604-879-3246 or at alicia at aliciabarsallo.net