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May 13, 2005
NDP Davids try to slay Liberals
Chudnovsky and Lehan both bring Yiddishkeit to the provincial
election race.
PAT JOHNSON
It's been quite some time since there was a member of British Columbia's
Jewish community sitting in the legislature, but two Vancouver men
are aiming to change that. David Chudnovsky and Mel Lehan are both
running for the New Democratic party.
Chudnovsky is the NDP candidate in Vancouver-Kensington. Once an
NDP stronghold represented by former premier Ujjal Dosanjh, it was
one of the 77 seats that fell to the Liberals in 2001. Chudnovsky,
a teacher and three-time president of the B.C. Teachers' Federation,
hopes to reclaim the riding for his party in the May 17 provincial
election. His presence in the race has been fodder for critics of
the NDP, who say the candidacy of people like Chudnovsky shows the
party is still deeply entwined with organized labor, despite leader
Carole James's efforts to portray a moderate, independent, centrist
NDP.
"The great strength of Carole James is her ability to bring
people together," Chudnovsky said. "Our party is very
diverse, just like our province, and it includes unionized workers,
it includes workers who don't belong to unions, it includes businesspeople,
seniors, students, people from all the ethnic communities, environmentalists."
But Chudnovsky doesn't mince his support for organized labor. "I'm
a proud trade unionist," he said. "I think that our unions
have done important work in moving our province forward, in building
democracy, in advocating for equity, in advocating for our members
and I'll bring those perspectives, as well as many others, to our
party."
Another perspective he says he will bring is a Jewish one.
"My background on both sides of my family is quite dramatically
different," Chudnovsky said. "My mother's family was quite
observant and Orthodox.... My grandfather, who I was very close
to, took me to synagogue when I was young and I enjoyed my time
with him. My father's family are secular and come from the Jewish
socialist tradition. They were very involved in cultural matters
– Yiddish drama and theatre and literature. So I had both of
those influences growing up."
As an adult, Chudnovsky has tended toward the secular side of Jewish
life. "My wife, Ruth [Herman], and I have been very involved
with the Peretz school over the years and our kids were part of
that program," he said. Children Anna, 27, who is finishing
a master's degree in education, and Ben, 22, who is a chef, are
both working on their dad's campaign.
Chudnovsky described what Jewishness means to his world view.
"It means culture. It means a love of learning. It means social
justice. It means respect and learning from both the religious and
the secular experiences of our people."
Chudnovsky said that in his riding – and throughout the province
– health care and education are the key issues. He said that
his background in education was the primary motivation for his decision
to run – although he declined to speculate on whether, under
James, he might be appointed education minister.
Across town, in the West Side riding of Point Grey, community activist
and retired teacher Mel Lehan is also carrying the NDP banner. If
Lehan were to win his seat on May 17, there is one Jewish story
that would come immediately to mind – David and Goliath. Lehan
is running against Premier Gordon Campbell in the Liberal leader's
home riding.
Though Campbell took the riding comfortably in 2001, Point Grey
does have an NDP past, with Darlene Marzari and Tom Perry having
held the seat. Though defeating an incumbent premier would be a
remarkable triumph, it wouldn't be Lehan's first such victory. Lehan
fought cancer seven years ago and had his oesophagus and about one-third
of his stomach removed. He feels great, he said, and the brush with
fate provided "a very nice pause and a change of pace,"
he claimed.
The bout with cancer - and the fact that a public health-care system
meant a catastrophic illness did not destroy his family financially
– made Lehan more firmly committed to universality and social
responsibility. Running for office is a direct result of that lesson,
he said. "Now I can pay my debt to help society because society
has helped me."
The candidate is critical of changes to provincial medical services,
which have delisted some procedures, like physiotherapy, a move
that Lehan said runs directly counter to the Canadian ideal of access
to medical care regardless of financial resources.
"If I'm wealthy, I can get my back taken care of," Lehan
said of the changes. "If I'm poor, I can't."
Privatization and budget cuts have led to hospitals with filthy
floors and washrooms and inedible food, Lehan claims – adding
that hospital support staff, once well-paid unionized workers, are
now low-paid, poorly trained workers who are filling time until
a better job comes along.
Lehan abhors Liberal changes to labor laws that have reduced the
minimum age for young people to work and created a $6 an hour sub-minimum
wage for beginning workers.
"We've gone down from a 15-year-old to a 12-year-old being
allowed to work," he said. "All of a sudden, in the last
four years, we've seen a regression, not to the 1990s, but almost
to the 19th century."
This is not Lehan's first run for office – he came just short
of winning a city council seat in 1996.
He has a lifelong connection with the Peretz Centre for Secular
Jewish Culture. His three daughters – Shaina, Kathleen and
Mira – all had bat mitzvahs there, an experience Lehan said
was moving for its celebration of the young women's Jewishness as
well as their womanhood. Lehan and wife Barbara have been married
33 years.
Though he said he would be an MLA for all the people of Point Grey,
Lehan noted his background would give him a special understanding
of issues of concern to Jewish constituents.
"Anytime you come from a community, you have a duty to help,"
he said. "I'm very proud of my Jewishness and would be proud
to help Jewish people work on their issues."
Pat Johnson is a B.C. journalist and commentator.
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