The new MoveUP council began Thursday afternoon by nominating and electing their new vice presidents from the Executive Board. Each of the three vice presidents were nominated and acclaimed. Gwenne Farrell returned to her position as vice president for utilities, Jeff Gillies took over as vice president for ICBC from MoveUP president David Black, and Heather Lee accepted the position as vice president for the combined units.
Moving from the local’s politics to politics outside the union, Jeff Gillies recapped recent events from the federal and provincial political scene in his Political Action Committee report. Telling the Council about the jam-packed Jack Layton event in Vancouver only a few days before the federal election, Jeff said he could tell Canada’s federal political map was about be drastically redrawn. Following tight on the heels of the federal election came the Point Grey provincial by-election where Premier Christy Clark won a narrow margin over the BC NDP’s David Eby.
Staying consistent with the theme of progressive politics, the Council warmly welcomed the last speaker of the day, BC NDP Leader Adrian Dix. David Black noted that this was the third time Adrian had made time to speak to MoveUP members in the last few months, while all of the attempts the union had made to meet with Premier Clark and Minister Coleman had been rebuffed.
Adrian began by reiterating his promise to bring Accenture members back into BC Hydro. "We will do it; you can count on us." Crown corporations like BC Hydro and ICBC are key to supporting B.C. families, communities and the provincial economy, he continued.
Adrian continued to lay his plan for province, focusing on positive solutions. He talked about the four major areas where British Columbians could count on action from a NDP government: education, public health care, the environment and B.C. jobs.
Referring to the HST, Adrian said, "This is a regressive tax that has to be defeated." Voter turn out is key for the upcoming HST referendum and the provincial election beyond that. Adrian said it was time to bring change to BC, and that he needed the help of every person on Council. "We can do better than 46% voter turn out. Every member of MoveUP should vote. Your families should vote and so should your friends and colleagues."
At the end of Adrian’s address, David Black thanked him on behalf of Council for speaking to their issues with a positive vision. The Council showed their support by giving him a standing ovation.
