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Victoria Labour Council congratulates the capital region’s most popular re-elected representative
The Victoria Labour Council (VLC) today offered congratulations to the capital regions’ most popular local representative as determined by local voters – re-elected School district 61 trustee Peg Orcherton.
Unofficial election results show Orcherton received 16,628 votes on Saturday, more than any other local representative elected at the school board or local government level in the Capital region.
“At a time when there is much concern expressed about low voter turnout for local government elections, the fact that Orcherton earned over 16,000 votes says that voters are serious about showing their support for those candidates who stand up for public services and schools,” said Mike Eso, VLC president. “Put another way, 16,000 votes is more than any local MLA received in the last provincial election and more than premier Campbell received in his last election in his Vancouver- Point Grey riding.”
“The VLC would also like to acknowledge and thank all local candidates who put their names forward in Saturday’s elections. The fact that over 200 people put their names forward to serve the public is a good sign for local taxpayers,” said Eso.
The VLC is one of BC’s oldest labour organizations, having been charted by the Canadian Labour Congress in 1956. The VLC represents over 23,000 members of unions affiliated to the Council.
Letter to the Editor, Victoria Times Colonist
The news that Premier Campbell has been giving out large gold medals inscribed with his name to workers at Olympic infrastructure projects is an outrageous waste of taxpayer money. [Les Leyne November 21] Workers want decent family supporting wages and safe working conditions not politically motivated handouts from the Premier.
If the Premier wants his name on a gold medal, perhaps he should focus instead on addressing this province’s growing child poverty problem. The BC Child Poverty Report Card released this week by the First Call Coalition shows that in 2006, BC had the highest child poverty rate in Canada for the fifth year in a row, with an estimated 181-thousand poor children living in our Province.
Taking action to solve child poverty would indeed warrant medals and congratulations. Until the Premier and his Government take real action to address child poverty, he should keep his name off medals of any kind.
Michael Eso, President of the Victoria Labour Council