I’d like to make comment on the current teachers’ situation. First of all let me remind you all what my mother-in-law told us: “Whenever you point a finger, remember there are three pointing back at you.” So, let’s stop all this finger-pointing BS and look at the real greater picture.
Going back to when WAC Bennett was defeated, our province was not in debt; in fact there was a surplus of over $100 million. After the NDP took power, our surplus was wiped out and after their first term and our province had a debt of well over $100 million. Our province has struggled ever since to become debt-free. Each time the NDP were elected the debt worsened. What deficit financing (NDP’s method) is doing is placing this debt onto our children and grandchildren. I ask you, “Why would anyone professing to be a teacher to our children not include this truth in educating our next generation?” Where is the advice of our grandmothers who stated: “Make sure that what goes into your bank account is always more than what comes out?”
How can the citizens of B.C. tolerate an agreement with the teachers that is putting us deeper in debt? Where is the rational? Remember, we are the government, not the current Liberals. It is not in our interests to increase our debt and ruin the next generation’s lives.
Teachers make an adequate living (and it’s all about living within our means). While their services to society are highly commendable, they are not more commendable than other public sector employees who serve our needs. A teacher friend of mine told me that along with all his government and teacher’s pensions he now gets more per month than when he was teaching. While he may have been exaggerating, I do know that most of the retired teachers we are aware of are more able to afford cruises and vacations than most other retirees – and good for them, they earned it.
Art Schmidt,
Chilliwack