History Always Repeats

Interesting how history can just drift across your desk. A fax came in the other day from the nascent Coalition to Build a Better B.C., announcing that “more than 25 groups have joined together to oppose provincial government funding cuts and to work on real solutions to build a better province for all British Columbians.” Featuring an impressive founding lineup—including the big-league likes of the BCGEU, BCTF, HEU, CUPE, CFS, WCWC and UBCIC, not to mention the less-acronymically recognized Federation of Labour, and the Alliance for Arts and Culture, among many others—the Coalition to Build a Better B.C. feel that “public, community and cultural services are essential cornerstones of a civil society” and are a “critical component of our economic well-being, especially in difficult economic times.”

In other words, people are mad as hell and are getting pretty darn close to not taking it anymore. No one’s talking about striking yet, but it’s not going to take many more straws until some middle-class backs start breaking—the HST, say, plus a few surprise cutbacks or major layoffs that are undoubtedly yet to come—and then Campbell may find himself flashing back to the Solidarity Crisis of 1983.

Granted, the times were different then—the SoCreds were the Liberals of the day and there was a very real threat of a general strike thanks to a growing coalition of activists, labour and everyday people (including a 19-year-old version of me) who coalesced into a 60,000-plus march on downtown Vancouver—but many of the issues were the same: increase to sales tax and medical user fees, loss of tenant rights, cutbacks in essential services and public sector jobs, outrage over governmental meddling in education budgets and human rights, lack of public scrutiny for Crown corporations and governmental spending . . . sound familiar?

It’s early days for this new Coalition, but you can bet I’m not the only one who remembers the pressure a large volume of organized, diverse, pissed-off people can put on a provincial government during a recession. And those were the days before e-mail, Facebook and flashmobbing made political action so much easier.

Curiously, it’s worth noting that Gordon Campbell entered the political arena in 1984—the year after the Solidarity Crisis fizzled out after labour leader Jack Munro signed an 11th hour deal with then-premier Bill Bennett that effectively safeguarded organized labour while leaving community activists out in the rain. But I wonder what Campbell learned in ’83: that a provincial government can pretty much do whatever they want if they’ve got the numbers to push through unpopular bills? That you can ignore the disadvantaged as much as you like, but can only push unions so far? That the promise of a provincial spectacle—and all the ensuing contracts—can keep the workers on your side? (If it’s the latter, bad news: Expo ’86 was yet to come, while the Olympics are now all but over.)

Ironically, one of the things that helped Campbell win his initial Vancouver city council seat in ’84 was his role in getting BC Place built—and with the shiny new $600 million retractable roof set to begin construction in a few months, complete with the Vegas-style commercial/entertainment/casino megaplex that’s rumoured to be attached—it looks like he’s looking to make the stadium his grand finale as well. Will it be bread or circuses in the months ahead? That’s up to us—and history. M