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BC Election 2013

Union Leader to Clark: Let's Put Down the Gloves

But 'don't do more of the same,' he urges Libs, while reflecting on NDP loss.

Tom Sandborn 15 May 2013TheTyee.ca

Tom Sandborn covers labour and health policy beats for the Tyee. He welcomes your feedback and story tips here.

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BCGEU leader Darryl Walker: 'I hope we are going to see a more harmonious province.'

Darryl Walker isn't looking for a fight, with Christy Clark or anyone else.

Speaking to The Tyee at the shell-shocked political wake that was NDP headquarters on election night, the burly, amiable, white-moustached leader of the 65,000 member BC Government and Service Employees Union (BCGEU) called for a new era of collaboration and consultation with the returning Clark Liberals.

"Don't do more of the same," Walker urged the premier, who herself went down in a narrow electoral defeat in Vancouver-Point Grey as her party increased its majority.

"The premier has an opportunity to set a new course now. Too often we have been shut out of discussions in the past," the union leader said. "I want to see more balance, a recognition that everyone counts."

He also said that the BC NDP might need to consider new leadership.

Renewing 'tripartism'

Walker emphasized that his union means to work productively with the returning Liberals, and he hopes that a new era of co-operation might open up after the election. He would like to see more active "tripartism," with labour building better partnerships with both business and government.

He worries that government will approach future contract talks with the "same old idea" that debt and deficit issues should be solved by cuts to public services.

"B.C. already has the leanest public service in Canada," he said, adding that many of his members, particularly in the social service sectors outside of direct government employment, are still working at vital jobs for wages very close to the minimum wage.

Conversations about equity issues are necessary, he said, and he hopes the Clark government will be willing to bring those conversations off the back burner.

Walker said that the biggest policy improvement he hopes to see from the newly-empowered Liberals would be a move to initiate a conversation about reforms to the Labour Code and Labour Relations Board, a conversation involving all political parties, business, government and labour.

"I hope we are going to see a more harmonious province," he said, as NDP Leader Adrian Dix delivered his concession speech in the ballroom next door.

Walker said that the NDP's defeat showed that the majority of B.C. voters had bought into the false theory that the economy was safer in Liberal hands, despite the fact that in his view, "there is no evidence for this."

Lessons of a surprise defeat

While expressing staunch support for the way Dix led the NDP into the election, Walker said he thinks the party needed to do more between elections to foster relationships with voters in all ridings. He suggested that NDP volunteers willing to act as "shadow MLAs" could regularly go door-to-door in ridings without NDP representatives and engage in conversations with voters about their concerns.

"We need to hold onto the volunteers who worked on this election," he said, "especially the young ones."

He also said he expected that the NDP would need to assess the lessons of the night's surprise defeat and make decisions about how to go forward. Asked if this might entail the possibility of a new party leader, he said his answer would be a "qualified yes."

But this cautious openness to new leadership, it was clear throughout the interview, was in the context of Walker's still strong support for how Dix led the campaign.

"I support the practical approach that Adrian Dix took," he said, emphasizing that he supported the NDP decision to avoid personal attacks on Clark and her team. He insisted on a distinction between personal abuse and strong political criticism of one's opponents, clearly pleased that his party avoided the first, but thoughtful about whether it fell short on aggressive policy criticism.

When asked whether the NDP had done enough robust criticism of the Liberal record, he replied, "I don't know that they did."

Like everyone trying to make sense of the May 14 surprise, Walker said that political polls had been singularly inaccurate and unhelpful during this election.

"The polls led us away from reality," he said.  [Tyee]

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