NDP gains opposition status in election with 21 seats voice for working peo- ple is being sent back to the next sitting of the House of Commons in Ottawa. On June 2, voters across Canada elected 21 New Democrat MP’s in the federal election. Because the NDP will have 21 members on Parliament Hill, the party of working people gets opposi- tion status, complete with a research budget and funding for additicnal staff. The NDP will now be officially recognized in question period and vows to turn up the heat on the fed- eral Liberals. Jean Chretien and his Liberal party won a bare majority of 155 seats in the 301 seat parliament. The ultra right-wing Reform Party is now the official opposition with 60 seats, ¢ National I.W.A. representative Bob Navarretta all in Western Canada, while the Bloc Quebecois finished third with 44 seats in Quebec, dropping 11% in popular support. The Progressive Conservative party, which had a higher percentage of the popular vote than did the Reform, finished behind the NDP with 20 seats. The I.W.A. has mixed feelings about the election results. secure jobs. Lance and Marcel are I.W.A. silvicultural workers. Not all silvicultural workers enjoy the same job security, decent pay, benefits and safety standards that they do. And it is forest communities that are suffering. Lance and Marcel Say it's time that all workers had secure jobs with decent pay and working conditions. We've got the parks. We've got better forest practices. Now it's time for jobs. 20/L.UMBERWORKER/JULY 1997 “We're glad to see that the NDP is back with twenty-one seats and will now be a voice that will be heard in Ottawa,” said I.W.A. CANADA National President Dave Haggard. “But we are disappointed as hell that the NDP won just three seats in B.C. and and did not win aseatin Ontario.” “Some of our membership gave their protest votes against the Liber- als to the Reform Party,” added Broth- er Haggard. “I just don’t think some of them understand how anti-labour and divisive the Reform Party truly is.” “Reformers believe that unions should represent workers who don’t pay any dues yet can work along side our members and cross pickets lines freely,” said Haggard. “Why any working person would vote for Reform is absolutely mind-boggling.” The Reform party also stands for the elimination of national standards for medicare, social service and edu- cation. He said that:the election results prove that the I.W.A. and other unions have to play a larger roles in educat- ing their memberships on political options - both during election cam- paings and between elections. Haggard remarked on the strength of the NDP’s showing in the mar- itime provinces. The party won 6 of 11 seats in Nova Scotia and two addi- tional seats in New Brunswick. “The pleasant surprise this time around was the strong showing on the east coast,” said Haggard. “The NDP came out as the most credible voice for working people in some of the country’s most depressed regions.” The party also picked up 5 seats in Saskatchewan, 4 in Manitoba and 1in the Yukon. “We will see a different type of debate generated in Ottawa,” added Haggard. “Without a strong voice during the last three and a half years, there was virtually no opposition to the destruc- tive policies of the Liberal govern- ment.” “I think that Alexa (McDonough) and the rest of the party are going to light a fire in the House of Commons and Chretien will wake up. The Lib- erals have cut and hacked spending on education, health care and other public services and give out tax breaks to their rich friends. Now they will encounter some opposition to those policies.” Haggard said that political dia- logue in Ottawa will change to address issues of unemployment and job creation, with a stronger NDP presence. Alexa McDonough ran a busy cam- he ¢ Local 1-425 officer Terry Tate paign, criss-crossed the country dur- ing the five week campaign, travel- ling over 55,000 miles. On the eve of the election Alexa gave as inspirational speech to her local supporters and others. “Your took this campaign right over the top, right into the history books,” she said. “I will go to Ottawa to provide a voice that is strong, that is clear and that is Nova Scotian to the core.” Two I.W.A. members ran as NDP candidates in hard-fought campaings. National Service Representative Bob Navarretta ran in the Liberal stronghold of Vaughan-King-Aurora, north of Toronto. Navarretta stuck to the issues of job creation, lower youth unemployment and the fight for fair taxes. It was his first foray into poli- tics. He told the Lumberworker that he is Pee that the L.W.A. stood solidly behind him and that he was able to put the union in the front and centre of his campaign. He openly declared his I.W.A. affiliation before the vot- ers, which gave the union a boosted profile. He said that there is still a back- lash among some voters against the former provincial NDP government of Bob Rae, although, since then, there has been considerable healing between labour supporters and the Navarretta said that Liberals vir- tually swept the province as the right-wing vote was split between the Progressive Conservatives and the Reform Party. He added that the Reform platform, is close to the poli- cies of Mike Harris which are becom- ing increasingly unpopular in Ontario. In the B.C. riding of Cariboo- Chilcotin I.W.A. Local 1-425 Execu- tive Officer Terry Tate finished in third place in a region that went to a Reform Party candidate. Brother Tate focussed his cam- paign on the fighting against the dis- mantling on the unemployment insur- ance system and opposing the Liber- als’ unfair Endangered Species legis- lation. In an interview with the Lumber- worker, Tate said that the campaign was “rewarding and interesting.” He was recognized in most of the com- munities he visited for his work with the Cariboo Communities Coalition. “One of the problems we faced was that people are so upset with the Liberals that they chose to reflect their venom by voting for the radical approach of the Reform Party,” he said. Despite a late start to the cam- paign, Tate and the NDP riding received strong support. Donations increased during the last three weeks of the election to ensure the con- stituency left no deficit. During the election, I.W.A. Nation- al Education Director Lyle Pona, his wife Diane and Local 1-3567 news editor Gordie McIntosh pitched in their support at riding headquarters. His first taste of politics made Tate think about future elections. “If I get another chance, I'll defi- nately go at it again,” he added. Displaced workers get help by Ron Corbeil Employment Co-ordinator For displaced woodworkers in B.C. there may finally be light at the end of the tunnel with the announcement of the Jobs and Timber Accord and the changes to the Forest Renewal B.C. land-based delivery system. Much has been said about the Accord so I will concentrate on the FRBC delivery system and the impli- cations to our membership. Since the creation of FRBC over three years ago, the ability to meet its initial goals has always fell short for I,W.A. members. Though it had set notable goals, FRBC often failed in its objectives to re-enhance B.C. forest, create jobs and training opportunities for forest workers, protect the envi- ronment and strengthen communities that rely on the forest industry. These are similar goals to the rec- ommendations that 1.W.A. CANADA representatives made at the various land-use table processes in order to mitigate any potential job loss. The two assumptions , that in my opinion, have made Forest Renewal somewhat ineffectual are: e The forest industry would be a will- ing partner; ¢ Government ministries can carry out delivery of the various programs. In most cases at the beginning, the forest companies weren’t interested because of the pending provincial elec- tion which took place last year. Then, later, they were saddled by high costs and cumbersome bureaucracy. Using government bureaucracies to delivery programs didn’t work because major changes were needed. Ministries ran with their own rules and regulations which, for the most part, were low-bid contracts that, in the end, would provide only minimum wages and below par employment standards. Many of these workers were students. Major changes introduced by the Clark government will see more money (up $114 million to $483.5 million in 1997-98) going into land-based pro- grams. In addition: ° multi-year agreements will provide continuity of employment. Less bureaucracy and up-front fund- ing should provide incentives for industry-driven FRBC projects. ° the Forest Worker Agency will imple- ment Bill 12 legislation linking dis- placed forest workers to FRBC pro- jects under a collective agreement that provides fair wages and benefits. The implementation of these changes may take a little time. After speaking with I.W.A. National Presi- dent Dave Haggard shortly after the announcements were made, I know that the Forest Worker Agency is high on the I.W.A.’s priority list and that it will, in all likelihood, be dealt with when major B.C. forest industry nego- tiations have been completed.