BC FORUM News - From The Advocate, Summer, 2019

Better. Stronger. Together.

Advocate Page 3

By Diane Wood

President, BC FORUM

Our world would be a lot better if people would realize that we’re all better off if we work together to care for our planet and each other.

As members of the trade union movement you and I have seen first hand that together we can achieve things that we could never achieve alone.

Working with our sisters and brothers at our worksites, we have won better wages and working conditions. In the political arena, we have won pensions, public health care, and more rights for all workers, regardless of whether they belong to a union.

Today, we continue to work with our allies to build on these impressive achievements. We are campaigning to improve our public health care system so it will finally cover prescription drugs and medically necessary dental care as originally envisioned in 1964.

Building on the recent modest improvements in the Canada Pension Plan, we continue to campaign for better pensions so working people can have financial security in their retirement.

There are, of course, many ways in addition to our unions that people work together to support each other. Volunteers who strengthen our communities. Family members and friends who care for their loved ones. Member owned retail co-operatives and credit unions. Political parties. Places of worship. And many more.

I personally believe the most significant and powerful way we work together is through our governments, the people we elect to work for us.

Democratically elected governments are never perfect. No human enterprise is. But at their best, governments are a marvellous invention and tool to help us all get ahead.

This seems so obvious to me that it would usually go without saying. It’s easy to forget how quickly the gains we’ve made can be rolled back or lost.

These are unique times, with unique challenges for humanity and the planet we live on.

New technologies have immense power to bring us together – for both good and evil.

It is truly encouraging to see young people use social media to spark student events around the globe calling for action to combat climate change before we reach the tipping point.

It is equally discouraging to see the same tools used to spread unfounded conspiracy theories, lies and hate.

Who would have thought that the internet – originally conceived as a way for scientists to collaborate and share their findings – would be misused to spread erroneous claims about the causes of global warming and the safety of vaccines, thereby threatening everyone’s future? Who would have thought that Russia and other foreign governments would spend millions to flood Facebook and Twitter with messages designed to sow distrust, incite hatred of others and divide ordinary people?

It is critical for countries to work together to deal with carbon pollution and to prepare to help the children, women and men who will be displaced by droughts, wildfires and rising sea levels.

Instead, we’re seeing more and more division. Information warfare. Increasing isolationism and self-serving protectionism. Attacks on transnational institutions, including the chaos of Brexit.

We must be better than this.

Our national governments must be better. When they say “me first” they are condemning humanity and our planet to a terrible future.