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Labour council votes to fund pre-campaign work for NDP candidate

For the first time since its founding 1889, one of the province's oldest and largest labour councils paid an officer to work full-time on a B.C. pre-election campaign this year. The Vancouver and District Labour Council, which represents over 60,000 Lower Mainland workers, helped established an office in the riding of North Vancouver-Lonsdale for NDP candidate Craig Keating.

"To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time ever we've done this," council president Joey Hartman told The Tyee on April 11. "Our membership voted twice to support the decision."

Hartman said that council executive member Gary Jarvis was mandated to work on the set-up of Keating's office before the formal election period began, and is now back to his regular employment.

Keating, she said, was a known factor for trade unionists. He served as a city of North Vancouver councillor before his run for the legislature.

"He had a good style of work, reaching out to the community and being very consultative," Hartman said.

Another factor in the decision to fund Jarvis's work for Keating's campaign, Hartman said, was the chance for an NDP victory in North Vancouver-Lonsdale, where Keating is running against BC Liberal incumbent Naomi Yamamoto, Ryan Conroy for the Greens and Jeff Sprague for the BC Conservatives.

In 2005, Keating lost in the riding by about 1,000 votes, but earlier Tyee analysis, which names North Vancouver-Lonsdale as one of the top 10 swing ridings to watch in next month's election, suggests that this year the NDP's momentum could help Keating to a win.

The unprecedented decision to budget for paid work on a campaign this time did not replace a long-standing tradition of council volunteer involvement in elections, Hartman said. She and other officers and members were active volunteers in a number of ridings, with Hartman herself door-knocking for NDP candidate George Heyman in Vancouver-Fairview.

The council also sponsored workshops, open to the public, in December and January to provide participants with basic tools for involvement in elections.

"We had supporters of several different parties at our workshops," Hartman said, "and a mixed group of VDLC members and members of the general public. The point was to make democratic engagement more accessible for everyone."

Tom Sandborn covers labour and health policy beats for the Tyee. He welcomes your story tips and feedback at [email protected].


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