Dear Editor:
I was shocked to hear that the B.C. New Democrat Party and its leader Adrian Dix are planning to eliminate secret ballots for union certification if the NDP is elected to form government in this province after the next election.
It gives us a glimpse into the kind of scary policies the NDP has in mind for us, policies they've been doing everything they can to hide from the public.
Everyone knows that secret ballots are the cornerstone of democracy, and that despotism, bullying and intimidation thrive in the absence of secret ballots, regardless of whether it's in a union hall or a third world dictatorship.
The only ones who will benefit from a union hall show-of-hands vote are labour union bosses, not the rank-and-file members.
This is the same backward policy step the NDP took when they were elected to government back in 1991, and it's as much of a slap in the face to democracy as it was back then and fundamentally undemocratic. It also shows us who is pulling the NDP's strings and who will really be in charge if, shudder, the NDP are elected to form government in this province.
The people of this province deserve a straight and open answer from Adrian Dix and the NDP on this question and we deserve that answer now. Waking up on the day after the election to discover that the B.C. Federation of Labour is running the province again as it did in the 1990s is a thought almost too scary to consider.
Matthew Enns via email
