About Us

BC’s Ten Percent Shift came about when a union leader started asking questions about BC’s struggling towns and cities.

Barry O’Neil, CUPE-BC President, was spending a lot of time in tough conversations with municipal government employers. They said they couldn’t afford to pay their employees well or keep their services public. They pointed to declining tax revenues for municipal governments and the hard economic changes going on in their towns. Barry saw:

• mills closing as companies moved work out of the country
• factories closing for cheaper production elsewhere
• stores boarded up
• people having to leave home for work.

Barry felt that just asking governments in Ottawa or Victoria for help wasn’t going to work. He learned about the local first movement, and the idea of the Ten Percent Shift. Barry did a lot of reading and talking with community leaders across North America. A former bus driver who has learned a great deal about the economy as a union leader, Barry sensed that grassroots change would have more impact than top-down solutions.

Together with others at the Canadian Union of Public Employees, they started BC’s Ten Percent Shift. It started with Barry speaking to CUPE members across BC. CUPE members have been building strong communities for a long time, so they care about local economies.

CUPE members passed the word on and invitations to speak started coming in. Audiences from local Chambers of Commerce to Rotary Clubs to Business Improvement Associations were excited about our local first message. The response was amazing and spanned all sectors of communities.

To date, Ten Percent Shift has spoken to:

• Chambers of Commerce
• City Councils
• Rotary Clubs
• Business Improvement Associations
• Community organizations

Ten Percent Shift BC is growing. We’re taking our message of local first to a wider audience. We’re welcoming people, organizations and communities to get involved. And we’re building our capacity to supply ideas, support and practical help to communities who want to make the shift.