Dear Editor:
Is $200 really stopping us from opening the public schools?
Once again the government has rejected the B.C. Teachers' Federations's offer to have their labour dispute settled through binding arbitration. The reason they give is because binding arbitration might increase our taxes. When the doctors' dispute went to binding arbitration we all had to pay an extra 0.5 per cent, but many forget this followed our taxes actually being reduced by about 20 per cent when the Liberals came to power. Minister of Finance, Mike de Jong, is quoted as saying, "if the government accepted the union's current proposal, it would cost every B.C. property-owner another $200. annually" (Vancouver Sun, Sept. 9).
Of course that would be if an arbitrator were to agree to all of the BCTF demands-which is quite doubtful. Nevertheless, is this really stopping us from getting schools reopened? I don't have kids in school, but I'd happily pay $200 to get kids into school and receive a quality education. A dinner for two this past Saturday cost $235.
Perhaps we British Columbians have to get our priorities straight. For those who genuinely can't afford an extra $200. I'd happily pay for one or two of those families as well. The other option, of course, is don't pay and have our uneducated youth robbing all of us for a meagre $200. Think about it!
Dr. Kel McDowell, by email
