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Dave Harper, a longtime member of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, wants to become the next president of the 45,000-strong union.

Harper is currently the local president of the Campbell River District Teachers' Association.

“I would like to use my 30 years of BCTF institutional knowledge and history in the service of the membership,” Harper wrote in a social media post Wednesday (January 29).

The BCTF is holding its annual general meeting in March 2020, and Harper said that he looks forward to sharing his vision with delegates at the gathering.

The union of public school teachers is presently negotiating a new bargaining contract with the province.

Harper’s platform includes a province-wide survey of BCTF members.

“What do members know and think about the services and governance of the BCTF?” Harper asked.

According to Harper, this survey is “essential to membership engagement and our moving forward with a collective vision in 2020 and into the future”.

Harper also wants to see the BCTF “achieve carbon neutrality in its meetings”.

“I would like to task committees, beginning with the Executive, with starting a pilot project to use high end web-based technology as often as possible to conduct meetings, rather than relying on planes, cars and hotel rooms,” Harper stated.

Harper’s platform also mentions an adjustment to the union’s membership fee.

According to Harper, the BCTF needs a plan to “gradually return” the membership to 1.69 percent.

“I believe that a fee of 1.69 % is both achievable and necessary,” he said.

The University of Victoria- and SFU-educated Harper has served as a member-at-large of the BCTF’s executive committee.

Teri Mooring is the current BCTF president.