IT is indeed a scandal how Premier Christy Clark – who did so well on the issues of increasing the minimum wage and introducing the Family Day holiday – has let her personal vendetta against teachers cause so much misery to students and their families.
As the Province newspaper noted Sunday, Clark was a firm believer in legislating teachers back to work back in 2002 when she was Education Minister and started her personal war against teachers.
“We are not here to take sides, to be held captive by one interest group or another,” she said.
“If there is an interest group whose interest will drive us, that interest group is children. We want our schools to go back to normal as quickly as they can.”
But now, as the teachers are losing thousands of dollars because of the strike, Clark is having a good laugh because she wants them down on their knees before Her Majesty (Clark)!
Education Minister Peter Fassbender, of course, is just taking orders from the Queen!
Clark has GROSSLY MISHANDLED the whole situation – and she’s hoping against hope that public opinion will turn against the teachers and force them to return with no gains.
The Liberal government has been slammed by the courts for their undemocratic behaviour.
As B.C. Teachers’ Federation President Jim Iker put it: “Does the government really expect that teachers would bargain away everything the BC Supreme Court has already awarded us? And what future decisions might bring?
“Twice now the government has been found to have violated Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms in BC Supreme Court. And now, the BC Liberals are trying to negotiate away those court losses and any future decisions.”
Of course, Clark doesn’t give a damn for public school kids because her own kid goes to an expensive private school!