Who needs to have kids in school when you can have 40 bucks?
That was the narrative our finance minister was pushing this week when he announced how much money parents will be compensated if the teachers' strike continues into the next school year.
That's $40 for every child under 13, to help pay for childcare or tutoring, as if the province is overrun with open childcare spaces, especially at $40 per day.Where is this money coming from?
It's exactly how much they'll be saving if they don't have to pay striking teachers.
This is a plan cooked up by political strategists who are happy to continue duking this failed negotiation out in the media, not anyone who has a real interest in seeing the two sides reach a deal and kids back in school where they belong.
It's a $40-poke in the eye and a message to the teachers: We'd rather give the money away than let you have it.
Despite calls for the teachers to come back with demands in line with other public sectors, and calls for the province to loosen its purse strings, we're no closer to a deal than we were in the spring.
It's time the teachers' union saw this move for what it is. Liberals aren't giving in. Not now. Not in September.
Since being legislated back isn't in the offing, it's up to the BCTF to come up with another strategy or risk being starved out by a government that clearly sees a chunk of the school year as expendable.
