BC NDP reveals two post-election promises

> Goals become clearer as election looms

Greg Waldock
Staff Writer

 

he BC NDP has announced two major
party decisions in the past month.

The first is an endorsement for
an alternate plan to the proposed
Massey Bridge, which is being
headed by the Liberals, the NDP’s
main provincial opposition.

The Massey Bridge plan is a
Liberal Party project to replace the old
Massey Tunnel between Richmond and
Delta with a 10-lane bridge. The NDP
has now officially come out against
starting construction on the bridge,
siding with the mayors across Metro
Vancouver who are opposing the plan.

BC NDP leader John Horgan has
said that while they “won't rule out a
bridge,” he wants the party to defer to
the mayors’ experience and judgement.

The mayors themselves are arguing
for more consultation. Port Coquitlam
mayor Greg Moore told the Globe and
Mail that he opposes “the scope of the
project, and would like to talk about that
point with the provincial government.”
The Green Party also opposes the bridge,
citing possible damages that traffic
will bring to surrounding farmland.

The second announcement from
the NDP was that they would not be
automatically re-hiring the school board
that was fired in 2016 by the Liberals,
revoking an earlier pledge to do so.

The entire school board was fired in

Douglas to inaugurate public
hearing instrument education

2016 by Education Minister Mike Bernier
following their failure to pass a required
balanced budget. The school board

had been split between representatives
from the major Vancouver parties, and
rejected the final proposed budget

due to disagreements around budget
cuts and school closures. A later report
indicated the school board underwent
harassment around these same issues,
though the report has been rejected by
various teachers’ unions around the city.

This prompted immediate
condemnation by Horgan—paired with
a promise to restore their positions, a
promise that was held until recently.

On March 16, Horgan told The
Globe and Mail: “What we have now is
a school board that does not have duly
elected representatives—and | think
that’s wrong and we should fix that.”

The NDP have now stepped
away from that promise.

In an interview with the Georgia
Straight, NDP education critic Rob
Fleming said they “hoped that [the Liberal
Party] would back down,” indicating
that this was a political maneuver to
force the Liberals into rehiring the
board. Fleming stated that a by-election
for the Vancouver School Board will
be called after the NDP takes power.

The two moves show that the NDP
is ramping up their run for provincial
leadership by specifically taking stances
against the incumbent Christy Clark.
Clark’s Liberal Party represents the NDP’s
biggest challenge on election day.

> Students to begin program in fall

Mercedes Deutscher
News Editor

 

he demand for more health workers

only increases as the large baby-
boomer population continues to age.
Post-secondary institutions across the
country continue to educate an increasing
number of nurses, doctors, and other
specialized healthcare workers.

Now, the opportunities for students
interested in audiology are increasing,
particularly at Douglas College. Douglas
students can now start applying for a spot
in the Hearing Instrument Practitioner
Diploma program, set to open its classes
in the Fall 2017 semester. All classes
will be held at the David Lam Campus
in Coquitlam, which houses many
of Douglas’ specialized programs.

“Hearing loss is becoming more
of an issue, and with the baby-boomer
population aging, there will be an
increased need for hearing healthcare
professionals in the near future,”
said Wayne Mullen, an instructor
with the Faculty of Science and
Technology, in a press release.

All students interested in the

program are not only encouraged to
attend the April 18 information session
on the program, but required to in
order to be admitted into the program.
They must also pass a criminal record
check and participate in an interview.
“Students are given the flexibility to
doa portion of their studies online, with a
significant hands-on applied component,
ensuring they will have the practical skills
needed to be successful in the field,” said
Brian Chapell, Dean of the Faculty of
Science and Technology, in a press release.
Aside from a single communications
course, the program introduces over
a dozen new courses. In addition to
the 15 required courses, the program
also requires its students to complete
3 practicums. After the program is
complete, students should be in an ideal
place to take the required provincial
licensing exams needed to become a
qualified hearing instrument practitioner.
The program is the first of its
kind in BC. Currently, there are no
other hearing instrument practitioner
programs available in a BC public post-
secondary institution. For the time being,
this will ideally mean that audiology
students will flock to Douglas.

 

 

John Horgan, Image via dailydot.com

Image via Wikimedia