The NDP wasn’t the only party with a change in leadership. After Social Credit was re-elected in 1983, the government launched an unexpected, drastic new program of “restraint” attacking the union rights of teachers and public sector workers, cutting many social programs, and even firing the province’s Human Rights Commission. The union movement responded with Operation Solidarity, to defend workers’ rights, and launched something new – the Solidarity Coalition – bringing community activists and unionists together to resist the Social Credit social policy cuts. While some of the unions went on strike, huge protests were held around the province. The BC Teachers Federation and the BC Government Employees’ Union were largely successful in forcing the government to back off the attack on unions, but the community sector did not have the same success. Still, the Socred programs proved so unpopular that Premier Bill Bennett decided not to run for re-election. His successor was the charismatic populist Bill Vander Zalm.
Restraint backfires on Bennett; Enter the Zalm
