Barbara Biley and Carla Neal are part of the team of 50 candidates – 25 women and 25 men – who represent the Marxist-Leninist Party in the 2019 federal election.
Well-known activists in the Comox Valley, they are presenting themselves under the MLPC banner for Canadians to empower themselves by speaking in their own name.
“We must not permit ourselves to be divided behind this or that promise of parties which form a cartel party system to keep the people out of power,” said Biley. “Parties that come to power claim to govern in our name and that the vote confers on them a mandate, but everyone knows this is not true.”
She decries the claim that elections are democratic, saying they are designed to bring parties to power that impose austerity and decide the crucial questions of the direction of the economy, questions related to rights and war and peace, in favour of global narrow interests.
“Let’s speak out about our conditions of life and work and our concerns and sort out together how the problems we face can be provided with solutions,” said Biley.
“Society has a duty to humanize the natural and social environment,” added Neal. “All of us uphold the cause of social justice. We want Canada to be a zone for peace and the restoration of the hereditary rights of the Indigenous peoples who are the legitimate keepers of the land from coast to coast to coast.”
Biley is a long-time social and political activist whose family moved to the Comox Valley from Hornby Island in the late 1990s. She has specifically championed the cause of health care workers throughout her working life in the field.
Neal practised family and criminal law in Prince Rupert before moving to the Comox Valley in the ’90s. She is well respected for defending the rights of youth, women and families, particularly the most vulnerable. Like Biley, Neal passionately espouses the cause of making Canada a zone for peace and both are active members of the Comox Valley Peace Group.
Both women are calling on residents to support and join the youth who are speaking out, along with their peers across Canada and in Quebec and worldwide, in the “climate strike” that started Sept. 20. They also bring to your attention the work of coastal forestry workers to uphold the dignity of labour against demands for anti-social concessions by Western Forest Products. Both Biley and Neal also champion the cause of seniors on the Island whose needs, they say, must come first against the narrow interests of private care providers.
To contact Barbara Biley and Carla Neal: mlpc@cpcml.ca or phone 250-792-0302
Visit www.cpcml.ca for more details on the party platform.
