B.C. politics gain leftism

New provincial political party promising greener policies

 By GINA ROGERS

With young voters making up the largest voting demographic in Canada, a new provincial political party launched this past week — directly catering to youths.

The total percentage of Canadians who voted in 2019 went down from 2015. While the number of young voters was not available for the most recent election, statistics show they climbed 18 per cent from 2011 to 2015. The October federal election left many students unsure of the future, especially about the environment and the planet they will inherit.

“Young people see that if we don’t solve the climate crisis, we cannot solve the affordability crisis,” Stuart Parker, BC Ecosocialists spokesperson said.

The BC Ecosocialists say they want to offer a solution to young voters who are students.

“We have to get back to a properly funded system… it means taxing the very rich right here,” said Parker, who was a Green Party leader prior to the launch of BC Ecosocialists.

Langara political science student Dayla Hart said she was dissatisfied with the federal election but wasn’t surprised with the results.

Hart believes in eco-socialism but views the BC Ecosocialists as an awkward middle ground between entryism and grassroots organizing.

“But with the benefits of neither,” she said.

Hart used 24-year-old NDP candidate Yvonne Hanson as an example of effective entryism and grassroots organizing, using an established party to present new leftist ideas.

“They actually have a chance of winning,” Hart said.

Stephen Phillips, political science department chair at Langara, said that the BC Ecosocialists want housing to be declared a social right and the government to become more involved in building housing.

“No other party, not even the NDP has gone that far,” Phillips said. “So that’s a message that I feel might resonate well, particularly with younger voters.”

Parker believes that the platform BC Ecosocialists is offering something Canadians have been wanting.

“I think Canadians have been really short-changed,” Parker said. “We decided to do this because we knew there’d be an appetite for it.” an attack on religious communities. He has friends in the Jewish community who are impacted by the bill and thinks it’s “terrible” Canadians haven’t done more to protest.

The next provincial election is on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021.

“It puts the lie to this idea that we’re a multicultural country in an ideological sense,” Blanding said. Sociology instructor Indira-Natasha Prahst, who teaches a racism and ethnic relations course at Langara, said the students in her class waited for federal leaders to react with a plan to tackle this during the election and were disappointed with silence.

“It leads to a serious question and that is, are we condoning this act of racism,” Prahst said.

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