By: Mason Mattu, Section Editor
Dear Mr. Premier,
When you were first appointed to your position after the resignation of John Horgan, you promised to deliver tangible results on affordability — results that British Columbians can feel in their daily lives. Yet, three years under your leadership, I’m certainly not feeling much change.
If you weren’t so busy going on lavish foreign trips, you’d realize that food prices have increased 27% since 2020 in BC. You promised a $1,000 grocery rebate to households during your last election campaign. What happened to that promise? Gone. You instead blamed immigrants for high food bank demands, missing the mark on how food unaffordability is tied to grocery giants, who are marking up our food prices in the name of greed. Has your government introduced long-term, systemic changes to create lasting affordability? I think not.
You are driving our economy into the ground with a deficit of over $11 billion. What exactly is that money being spent on? Could it be on social services and initiatives to make post-secondary tuition more affordable? Nope. Could it be on a fare-free transit pilot? Nope. You still continue to uphold neoliberal notions of a free market. Instead of continuing to pursue corporate-friendly policies, your government has an opportunity to reform our corporate tax rates to pre-neoliberal levels set forth before Gordon Campbell came to office in 2001 — and thereby address the root causes of inequality. Yet, you don’t.
Did you run your last election campaign on a progressive plan to lift British Columbians out of poverty? No, you didn’t. Instead of proposing structural reforms that would truly make a difference in our lives, you led a fear-based campaign against John Rustad and the BC Conservatives. You demonized those who voted for Sonia Furstenau and the BC Greens (then refused to implement proportional representation, something that would ensure that every vote truly counts).
Three years into your premiership, you are still betraying the core values of what is expected of New Democrats. Your moderate, status quo politics are not attractive to voters who haven’t seen any changes in their material conditions since you entered office. Despite having a majority government, you are not governing for the working class. Clearly, if you keep going down the path you’re going, the BC Conservative Party will continue to win over working-class voters who are trying to get by in a rigged economy — and you will create the conditions necessary for a BC New Democratic Party (BCNDP) loss in the next election.
Perhaps you and party insiders need a wake-up call to realize that the BCNDP is becoming unelectable. Maybe this means organizing to redirect the progressive vote away from the BCNDP and towards the BC Green Party and their freshly minted, progressive leader Emily Lowan. Maybe this means that losing the next election is necessary so reflection can take place, restoring progressive policies to the BCNDP.
As a young person, I’m scared that our government is not investing in my best interest. I’m scared that the cost of living will continue to skyrocket.
I’m scared that the late, former federal NDP leader Jack Layton’s dream of a “prosperous economy and society that shares its benefits more fairly” is a call to action that lies distant in our rearview mirrors.
Mr. Premier, now is the time to act. If you want our vote in the next election, do something to improve our lives. Better yet, do your job. Your party is in government — so actually govern for the people.
Yours truly,
Mason
