When someone invades our personal space we can usually sense it and move away. You can see it at a party where, if someone moves into your space you back up a bit. Ever been caught in a corner with a bore? Everyone can feel uncomfortable when someone comes too far into your personal space. We all have a circle around us that says "This far and no farther."

In the same manner, we all have a sphere of personal influence. We sometimes only influence a small number of people. Ever listen to your children play? It shocked me as a young mother to hear the same words I used coming from my children. "Now don't do that or I'll get the wooden spoon!" As parents we have a huge influence over the way our children think, their values, their attitudes toward life, their language their morals.

Our friends can be influencial as well. For years I have been giving dinners and using cloth napkins. For much of that time my friends would say "Oh just use paper." Now it has become the "in thing" to use cloth. Environmentally sound.

At work our co-workers are influenced through our work ethic and personal integrity. Currently I have an initiative to stop the theft of time. This occurs when we do personal business at work, when we take an extra two or three minutes every coffee break, when we take a sick day instead of a vacation day, to see a friend just in town for the day.

All of us have a much larger circle of influence than we think.

There are many people of influence in our community. Roderick Haig-Brown influenced our environmental practices along the rivers and lakes of Vancouver Island. Frank Ney influenced the development of Nanaimo for many years. Barry O'Neill is influencing the union movement as we move into the new millennium. We all admire these leaders for their influence.

But, we must not be satisfied to allow others to use their sphere of influence and not use our own. We all have this power and we should all strive to use it in whatever area we can.

In CUPE we have members who take leadership roles for other members. One group is our Stewards. These people have taken at least a 20 hour training session. They, on a volunteer basis, ensure that members are being treated fairly under the terms of the Collective Agreement

At each work site we may also have Site Representatives. These volunteers make sure that bulletin boards on site are kept in a timely, interesting fashion, that members see notices, and generally assist members in seeking advice about questions they may have. They do not interpret the Collective Agreement but act in a more advisory manner to help members on the worksite.

As part of the union movement, we all can exert our influence through boycotts, embargoes, and lobbying. Toward this end I have made a commitment to myself to exert my personal influence

I have made it a priority of mine to convince as many people I can to lobby Victoria - meaning the Provincial Government - to make different priorities in the spending of our tax dollars. I believe it is time that we say Education needs more dollars. I believe it is time to put more money into Health. To this end I will be encouraging all my friends (and enemies), all my acquaintances and co-workers, to talk to people about the need for more funding in these two areas. Our governments need to change priorities to reflect the needs of the population.

I ask you to join me in working to influence the people of British Columbia to demand that our priorities in government spending change. It is time to all work together in an effort to get sufficient funding to support the necessary maintenance programs, updating of facilities and equipment, and sufficient staffing levels to meet the needs of the children and adults of this province. Write, telephone, fax or e-mail your MLA and the Premier TODAY.