CUPE members believe in communities. We live, work, pay taxes and join in activities to strengthen our communities.

When something threatens our jobs, our families and our communities, we rise to defend ourselves and our neighbours.

That's what CUPE BC's Strong Communities campaign is all about.

The campaign began as a response to harmful policies by the BC Liberal government. When the Liberals were first elected in 2001, they said they would change the way things were done in B.C. But Gordon Campbell and his MLAs went too far and too fast with those changes, eliminating important public services and cutting needed programs that support seniors, children, people with disabilities and others. And that's why, on May 17, 2005, British Columbians elected 33 New Democratic Party MLAs to make the BC Liberals more accountable to communities.

CUPE BC believes that politics at the community level are every bit as important--maybe even more so--as provincial politics, because decisions made in that arena have more immediate impact on people's lives. That's why the Strong Communities campaign is also involved in civic elections throughout the province.