Dear Editor:
Re: It's not all about the teachers (Burnaby Now, Feb. 1)
I would like to thank Keith Baldrey for so eloquently pointing out the long list of failures on the part of the Liberal government in the provision of desperately needed social services in this province. I absolutely agree with him that government policies regarding Community Living B.C., individuals living on welfare, the overburdened justice system, the homeless, our creaking health-care system and university tuition have been nothing short of disastrous.
I am not sure, however, why education seems to be exempt from that list. In 2002, when Christy Clark was education minister, the Liberal government arbitrarily stripped the fairly bargained collective agreement with teachers and thereby removed roughly $300 million per year from education spending by increasing class sizes, laying off librarians and special needs teachers, and closing schools (nearly 200 at last count). That's $3 billion in the past decade. Where did all of that money go? It clearly wasn't spent on the other badly needed social programs that Mr. Baldrey appears to be championing.
Ironically, Mr. Baldrey uses the hypothetical figure of $500 million in his column on spending priorities. The government apparently had such a reserve fund a few years ago. What did it decide to do with it? It put a new roof on B.C. Place. Now there's a priority!
Mr. Baldrey can vilify the BCTF all he likes, but the real villain here is a government that puts corporate tax cuts and stadium roofs ahead of spending on critical social programs. Slamming teachers won't change that, but perhaps a new government with new priorities will.
Lee Rachar, Burnaby
