How do you feel about book censorship and banning at the hands of the government?
First a short history lesson. Anyone who has taken even a passing interest in the B.C. political scene will know what a strange place it is, full of shifting alliances, popularity that waxes and wanes, dramatic ups, and downfalls that are staggering in their completeness (hello, or rather goodbye, Socreds!).
No one has ever accused politics in B.C. of being boring (after all, we once had a premier who renamed himself Amor De Cosmos, or “Lover of the Universe”), and things are heating up again as we approach the next provincial election, which is slated to take place on Oct. 19, 2024. This is largely thanks to the resurgence of the BC Conservative Party, which last elected an MLA in 1972 and has been moribund ever since, watching as the left-of-centre BC NDP and the right-of-centre BC United (formerly BC Liberals) battled it out.
The BC Conservatives (no relation to the federal Conservative Party led by Pierre Poilievre, although provincial Conservatives would love for you to think they’re connected) didn’t run a full slate of candidates for several decades, and didn’t have a voice in Victoria until February 2022, when BC Liberal MLA John Rustad had a falling-out with Liberal leader Kevin Falcon and crossed the floor to become a BC Conservative. He remained there in splendid isolation until BC Liberal MLA Bruce Banman also decided to take his ball and bat and join the Conservatives.
Suddenly the BC Conservatives were back, baby, capitalizing on the desire of some voters to move even further to the right of BC United. Last week a third BC Liberal/United MLA, Lorne Doerkson, crossed over to the Conservatives, followed on June 3 by a fourth, Elenore Sturko. As this is what we call a “rapidly evolving situation”, there might well be more defectors by the time you read this.
Now, how you feel about politicians who are elected as representatives of one party leaving to join another will vary: are they taking a morally principled stand based on their convictions, or are they rats leaving a sinking ship in an attempt to save their political skins? Whichever way you lean, one thing is clear: with four sitting MLAs, and a promise to run a candidate in each of B.C.’s 93 ridings, the BC Conservatives need to be taken seriously.
With that comes scrutiny as to their platforms and policies, which is where book censorship comes in. In an interview last month, BC Conservative leader John Rustad said that his party is not yet ready to unveil the planks of its election platform that will address several pressing problems (he specifically cited housing costs, spiking grocery bills, gaps in access to health care, the poisoned illicit drug supply, the ailing forestry sector, and deficit spending). However, he did reveal one platform that is ready to go: he said that if elected, the BC Conservatives would strike a committee to review all school textbooks and literature to ensure they are “neutral.”
“‘It shouldn’t be about indoctrination of anything, whether that’s environmental or whether that’s political or whether that’s sexual,’ Mr. Rustad said, referencing his proposal to censor books deemed by his Conservative government to be inappropriate for students.” For those keeping score, this means that the BC Conservatives are not yet ready to say what they would do about housing costs, grocery bills, or health care, but they’re all ready to send committee members (with what qualifications?) into school libraries looking for things they deem “inappropriate” (to whom, using what criteria?).
It’s tempting to ask “Where are your priorities?” but the answer to that question seems abundantly clear. When someone tells you who they are and what they plan to do, believe them. And do a little homework about governments that have censored books. Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.
