A number of messages on policy priorities were sent to B.C.’s NDP government this weekend after hundreds of delegates voted on resolutions at the party’s annual convention in Victoria.
Among the resolutions passed during the three-day gathering was a push to end parking fees at hospitals for patients and their visiting family members. Health Minister Adrian Dix has said in the past he was looking at the issue.
Also approved was lowering the legal voting age to 16 for municipal and provincial elections, an idea brought forth by the Young New Democrats and promoted heavily by the BC Greens. Horgan has previously rejected that change, instead pushing for a better practice of registering young people before they turn 18.
The delegates also voted to encourage the government to offer free menstrual products in all public buildings in B.C. — the idea is already in place at public schools — and pressuring Ottawa for cheaper cellphone and internet plans.
In a news release issued Sunday to mark the end of the convention, Premier John Horgan called the weekend that included training and workshops “inspiring.”
“We’ve accomplished so much over the last two years to make life better for British Columbians, but there’s still more to do,” Horgan said. “We’re going to keep working on building a better B.C. for everyone.”
Horgan saw members vote overwhelmingly in favour of his staying on as the party’s leader, receiving 96.4 per cent of the vote.
His speech to the delegates on Saturday was one of celebration of the work his government has done since taking power, despite a year plagued by labour unrest in multiple sectors including forestry, education and transit.
The BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) held its own meeting of school district representatives in the same building as the NDP convention and held rallies outside the convention hall to draw attention to failed contract talks.
Horgan said he wasn’t bothered by the teachers’ campaign but would not engage in discussions with the union, saying the issues belonged at the bargaining table.
The BCTF and the provincial government have been negotiating since February, and teachers have been working without a long-term contract since the previous agreement expired at the end of June.
The premier also stuck to his guns on wading into the dispute involving Metro Vancouver’s bus and SeaBus workers, who plan to walk off the job for three days starting Wednesday.
Horgan urged that union and Coast Mountain Bus Company to resume negotiations in order to avert the system shutdown, but neither side has indicated that would happen.
It took provincial legislation from the then-Liberal government to bring an end to the last transit strike in 2001, which lasted four months. Horgan has vowed this year’s strike would not stretch out that long on his watch.
Despite those tensions, Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh praised Horgan for his leadership during his own speech at the convention.
“The theme of this convention — the idea of putting people first — you spend even a minute, a couple seconds with Premier Horgan, you can tell that in his core being that that is what he’s all about: putting people first,” he told the crowd.
—With files from Richard Zussman