By Joe Johnson (The Cascade) – Email
Date Posted: October 6, 2011
Print Edition: October 5, 2011
I’m an admittedly unabashed political junkie. Recently, I had the opportunity to spend the day with two UFV alumni: Andrew Mercier and Sukhi Dhami. Both of them are just entering the battleground of BC’s provincial politics. Andrew and Sukhi are each members of the British Columbia New Democratic Party, and are quite active in their own communities and constituencies. In fact, their dedication to politics blew me away.
We started out at the BC Rivers’ Day event in Langley, where Andrew and Sukhi did what every politician does to increase awareness – meeting and talking with people from the community. But this part of the day was short lived as rain began to come down hard. So we went to have a coffee and a bit of a discussion about who they are, where they came from, and where they stand on the issues.
Andrew was acclaimed as the NDP candidate for the Langley riding only a couple of weeks ago. But in his day job he’s a labour worker and truck driver, and is a member of the Teamsters local 213 union. He’s also the union shop steward, and now recently appointed to the Teamsters Canada Youth Committee. He works 50 hours a week, not including the union duties.
As for Sukhi, he works at his family’s nursery and farming business. And he has just put in the papers to be selected as the candidate for the riding of Abbotsford-West. The nomination date is a few months away, but he’s looking forward to the time between, which will allow him to develop himself as a candidate. They both grew up in working class families, and it seems that’s helped shape their political leanings. Andrew’s parents were public service employees, and Sukhi’s parents were immigrants from India.
I asked the guys if either of them had taken any classes at UFV which might have helped in shaping their political views. During his time at UFV, Andrew studied political science with both Scott Fast and Hamish Telford. He singled out Fast’s History of Political Thought courses (POSC 311 and 312) and Telford’s Canadian Federalism (POSC 310) course as particularly influential. Unfortunately, at the time he attended UFV there was no political science major, forcing him to finish school at the University of New Brunswick.
Sukhi was a science major in Biology. And while not having a political education, he was involved in the East-Indian Student Association as one of three presidents. They planned cultural shows, and raised money for multiple charities.
While never meeting at UFV, they were introduced at Adrian Dix’s leadership victory party by Piotr Majkowski. Majkowski was the federal NDP candidate for Langley, whom Andrew had been the campaign manager for. It was his work as campaign manager that allowed Andrew to really hone his campaigning skills. Piotr didn’t win, but they managed to raise NDP support by 2379 votes.
When it comes to their opponents, Andrew and Sukhi agree that it’s about being civil, and staying away from dirty politics; disagreeing on issues but giving consideration and respect to those who disagree with you.
The both of them agreed that education is of paramount importance. Aside from UFV not having a political science program, another reason Andrew went to the University of New Brunswick was because of the cost of education. The NDP is in favour of reinstating the needs-based grants program, and eliminating interest on student loans. “Education is paramount…if you want to have a healthy economy, you need to have a strong education plan,” said Andrew.
With Sukhi’s family history in agriculture, he is also supportive of Abbotsford’s farming community. He wants to bring to the forefront the discussion of local farming, as well as the promotion of our local foods. UFV could be a driving force in agricultural research in Canada, if only the provincial government makes the necessary investments.
Neither of them were impressed with the HST. The implementation was bungled from the start and now switching back is also hurting the economy, as spending is put off. This is all while corporate taxes have been going down, and MSP premiums going up.
And finally, I asked them about their hobbies. Andrew is more than an avid reader, recently finishing The New Industrial State by John Kenneth Galbraith. Sukhi, on the other hand, loves muscle cars – his first being a ’68 Chevelle. But for the most part, politics takes up any extra time they have. Before leaving them, I invited any last comments for the article. And they both agreed that the political process and politicians ought to do more to engage young people. Voting is one of the simplest things that can be done, and shouldn’t be taken for granted.
