ene

By FRED WILSON
Three weeks of the provincial election cam-
a are enough to draw some important con-
pons. This is likely the most impersonal elec-
»°0 campaign in this province’s history. There
iS great interest, of course, and a tremendous
fusan commitment on the part of thousands
tither maintain or defeat the government.
te Never before has the public been so effec-
Nely blocked from real participation in the
Process touted by both Bennett and Barrett as
€last word in democracy.
the! campaign is not radically different from
last One; it is only a more advanced stage in a
*ontinuing drift to a presidential-style electoral
Process where carefully researched and packag-
of Image-making substitutes for honest debate
i Teal issues. It is consumer politics, marketed
ke shampoo.
in The Socred machine has been the main driv-
d 8 force behind the trend over the past two
ag although the NDP has been carried
B.C.’s new Election Act which turned the
3 €W a couple of more times on public involve-
; €nt passed the legislature last summer without
theuour of opposition. The main provision of
€ legislation — a shortening of the campaign
Petiod from 38 to 29 days including the day the
Was issued and voting day — overshadow-
€ two positive changes which provide

—

lor regular enumeration and allow affadavit

vallots to be taken at the polls for those who
“re left off the list.
€ motivation behind the Election Act
erin eements: was clear enough: to deflect
ean of the government over the obsolete
; ts list and to help ensure the government’s
“lection by reducing the campaign period to
“ss than a month.
€ shorter campaign period not only gives
€ Z0vernment a head start with little time for
ae Opposition to catch up — it makes the task
cle: parties to compete effectively almost
f Possible. Unless parties have enormous
i “aial resources, it is difficult even to have
Eten literature printed in time for distribu-
°n. Serious.political parties will have some

AX

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level of preparation for an election, but even
that is less than a fair chance when the govern-
ment is able to manipulate the political process
with false starts the way the Socreds did over the

past two years.

The most important impact of the quick
campaign, however, is the curtailment of public
involvement. All candidate forums at the con-
stituency level have dwindled to a bare few.
That is partially the result of the policy of both
the Socreds and the NDP of discouraging all
candidate debates, and partially because com-
munity organizations that usually operate on
the basis of monthly meetings simply had no
time to organize and publicize meetings.

For activists in the election; the pressure to
mobilize the vote in such a short period takes
precedence over political debate. In the labor
movement especially, acommon response to an
invitation to discuss issues in detail is: “‘Let’s
discuss the long term interests of the labor
movement on May 6, right now we’re too busy

Activists or non-activists, the result is the
same. Few people will hear politicians debate
issues, or will have the opportunity to debate
issues themselves with politicians and political
parties. ; ‘

For the great majority the election campaign
takes place at 6 p.m. with the television news.
The inevitable result of the Election Act
changes and the drift to consumer politics was
to greatly enhance the role of the media in br-
inging both the issues and the parties to the peo-
ple. It was not only inevitable, it was planned
that way by Patrick Kinsella and the Socred
strategists. They can afford almost unlimited
media advertising, and there they can con-
trol what is said and under what conditions.
Opportunities to use the media effectively to
debate the issues are studiously avoided, such as
the Socreds’ refusal to debate the NDP on CBC
television. ci

The mass media can be an important link bet-
ween people, when people are involved and
themselves are making news. However in the
absence of that involvement, the media itself

often decides the main issues and then
substitutes itself for public opinion. A case in
point was the declaration that ‘‘a turning
point”’ had been made in the election campaign
when Barrett spoke out againt the Compensa-
tion Stabilization Program. By what measure
were Barrett’s statement’s ‘‘a turning point’? —
even before they had been reported to the
public?

For the smaller parties, the discriminatory
bias of the media becomes anti-democratic cen-
sorship. Even the Liberal Party, with about 50
candidates, has been virtually blacked out of
the election debate. The Communist Party has
been completely blacked out from any mean-
ingful coverage. A meeting in Vancouver Cen-
tre addressed by party leader Maurice Rush and
attended by about 150 people was reduced to a
sentence about underwear in the Sun, while the
Province did not even send a reporter. BCT V
has refused to even mention that Communists
are running while CBC television interviewed
Maurice Rush, but that interview has yet to ap-
pear two weeks later. The blackout is not new,
but in the absence of all candidate forums and
in a restrictive, short campaign period it takes
on new significance.

In spite of the inherent advantages in this
campaign to the government, there is a good
chance that it may be defeated. A new govern-
ment would be welcomed, especially an NDP
government which supports grass roots
democracy. It could give real substance to that
support by enacting reforms that are obviously
required.

B.C. needs a new Election Act and its main
provisions should include a fixed election date,
an adequate election period for parties to meet
and discuss their policies with people of not less
than six weeks, guaranteed access of all parties
to the media, and funding for all-candidate
forums in the communities and at places of
work. '

These measures by themselves would not
guarantee public involvement and honest
debate over the issues that concern people most,
but they would help.

MAY

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MAY 1 — Annual Vancouver East
May Day Supper. Fresh ravioli, $5.
Doors 4:30, supper 5:30. Ukrainian
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MAY 5 — Open house at the Com-
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Dinner $6. Proceeds to Tribune.

MAY 8 — Annual Mother's Day
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MAY 14 — Buzzard’s Run
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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 29, 1983— Page 19