04) COMMUNIST CANDIDATE MEETS NORTH VAN-LONSDALE VOTERS

     Kicking off his campaign for the May 14 B.C. provincial election, Communist Party of B.C. candidate Kimball Cariou met with North Vancouver-Lonsdale voters on March 9.

     Cariou will be the first Communist on the ballot in North Vancouver since the 1980s. Volunteers are already collecting nomination signatures, and the campaign will go public at the March 19 Nowruz Persian New Year fire celebration, which attracts thousands to Ambleside Park.

     At the forum, Cariou was joined by Communist Party of Canada leader Miguel Figueroa, making his final stop on a tour of western Canada. Figueroa has been from Winnipeg to Victoria, presenting the Party's views on how to defeat the war and austerity policies of the Harper Tory government.

     Most of the audience on March 9th were from the local Iranian-Canadian community, which numbers over 20,000. Many are strongly opposed to the undemocratic Ahmedinajad regime, but equally reject the push by Canada, the U.S. and other imperialist governments for war against Iran.

     Cariou, who has been active in peace movements since the days of the Vietnam War, will make opposition to Canadian warmaking a focus of his campaign. While this is a provincial election, he stressed, voters in North Vancouver-Lonsdale are paying for the military build-up under PM Harper. The billions spent on the military, he argued, should be redirected towards urgent civilian needs, such as low-income and social housing. Cariou pointed out that while North Vancouver has a reputation as a beautiful and wealthy area, there are thousands of poor people in the riding, including Iranian-Canadians who are falling through a dissolving social safety net. As in other parts of the region, rents are sky-high for North Vancouver voters living on minimum wage or part-time jobs.

     Speaking about recent B.C. Liberal scandals around "ethnic voter" schemes, Cariou said that Premier Christy Clark really needs to apologize for her role in covering-up the sale of B.C. Rail, and for the devastation to schools, teachers and students during her years as Education Minister in Gordon Campbell's Liberal government.

     For information on the Communist campaign in North Vancouver-Lonsdale, call 604-254-9836, email cpbcinfo@gmail.com.

(The above article is from the March 16-31, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)