"Is it any wonder a lot of British Columbians are shaking their heads, wondering what the hell is going on? I listened yesterday to Peter Fassbender the education minister..." Bill Good, CKNW audio vault 8:36 a.m. June 17, 2014
Would teachers still have delivered an 86 per cent strike vote had salaries and bonuses not been bundled with their dispute over class size and composition? I pondered that unanswerable question after listening too long to all sides of the debate and then decided that, despite my support for individual teachers and the continuing unlawful provocations by the province, I disagreed with the B.C. Teachers' Federation decision to call a strike at this point in the school year.
We all know strikes are timed to exert maximum inconvenience in the hope of forcing dispute resolution. But for BCTF - and the Liberals - to throw the work of graduating students to the wind and ruin their once in a lifetime experience was unacceptable.
That callousness calls into question the sincerity of all participants when they claim to have the best interests of students at heart.
CKNW morning host, Bill Good, can count me among the head shakers when he indicts, not just Education Minister Fassbender but BCTF president Jim Iker and Peter Cameron, chief negotiator for the B.C. Public School Employers' Association.
There are many more questions not being answered by the rhetoric and combined assertions about class-size and composition: Depending on the source, the province says it pays either $6,900 or $8,357 basic funding per regular pupil. Then, according to the severity of affected students' learning challenges, it allocates an additional $9,200 to $36,600 per pupil to cover the cost of specialist instruction (bced.gov.bc.ca/k12funding/funding/13-14/overview.pdf).
So if, as many say, there are special needs students struggling without that assistance, how are other provincial shortfalls forcing school districts to spend those extra dollars? Why are some parents driven to pay around $20,000/year for private developmentally informed instruction? Has the 1970s' wellintentioned move toward inclusion benefitted or hindered special needs students? As confirmed twice by the courts, the B.C. School Act requires the province to provide all resources necessary for students to complete the K-12 curriculum. Why is that legislation being varied by possible cancellation of summer school classes for students who need help to catch up their grades? Statistics show about 70 per cent of Canadian jobs are created by small business. In today's economy, owners and employees of those businesses can only dream of having $1,200 bonuses dropped in their lap.
Government has costed teachers' salary proposals as a 12.6 per cent increase; yet the BCTF is "demanding" $5,000 signing bonuses from taxpayer pockets before teachers will agree to return to work? Much more could be said about this strike if only we knew where to find the truth. When the BCTF elected a new president, many people hoped for new directions in the organization and negotiations. Hah! Mediation should have happened months ago to end the tiresome escalation of arguments. Today, our only hope is for the warring parties to set an example; settle the dispute, honour its terms and return to work before end of the school year.
... This was meant to be a two-header column - BCTF and TransLink - until a Moodyville issue inserted itself into the mix. Too many stories - so all I'll say about TransLink for now is this: For 16 years, I and others have researched, provided input to and written about the decisions of the transportation authority. Throughout those years, although we have been heard, we've had little influence over TransLink's under-funded, highly politicized boards and councils.
Nevertheless, there has been one approach people like light-rail advocate Malcolm Johnston and me have maintained - we have always based our arguments on the facts as we could determine them and, frustrated though we often were, we always presented our respective positions with courtesy.
So I was extremely annoyed to read the email I received following release of the Mayors' Council 10-year plan and 30-year outlook.
Addressed to Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore and widely distributed, the email referred to "the monkeys running (TransLink)"; to "the buffoons," "megalomaniacs" and "dirt bags" at TransLink and to planners' "scrawny necks."
Since I didn't author it, why did that bother me? Well, it's because an otherwise well-informed professional who writes in a threatening tone lets us all down. He makes it far less likely reasoned arguments from dissenters like me will be heard and considered.
In similar vein, I was disturbed to learn that North Vancouver mortgage and real estate specialist George Madi and his family have received unpleasant visits, middle finger salutes and intimidating phone calls, merely because he dared circulate a petition that opposed undue densification and enrichment in his Moodyville neighbourhood.
Not sure, but aren't personal threats against the law? We live in a weird democracy.
There's more to come on TransLink and Moodyville but, in the meantime, how about urging BCTF and government to get back to bargaining - with open minds and prepared to settle? [email protected]
