Understanding Christy Clark
Gordon Campbell’s Liberals
came to power in 2001 with a promise of fair treatment of public sector
unions. With Christy Clark as his
Minister of Education, in January 2002 the government stripped provisions from
public sector unions.
In 2004 the BC Supreme Court
found: “By passing this legislation without consulting with the BC Teachers
Federation, the government did not preserve the essential underpinning of
collective bargaining, namely good faith negotiation and consultation.”
The judge gave the government
a year to rectify. The Clark government
imposed another contract, which the BC Supreme Court ruled on in 2014: “The Liberals had no more bargained in good faith
with the BCTF than in the first case.”
The Christy Clark government
decided to appeal to the BC Court of Appeals, which overturned the two lower
court decisions. The case went to the
Supreme Court of Canada in 2016, where it took 20 minutes for the court to
restore the finding of bargaining in bad faith.
Christy Clark says on the
Supreme Court ruling:
1. “The
government anticipated the ruling.” (Nov. 11 Vancouver Sun)
2. “If it
costs more money, that’s a good thing in lots of ways because it’s a good
investment to put money into classrooms and our kids.” (Nov. 11 Vancouver Sun)
3. Christy
Clark says teachers’ win is opportunity to invest in kids. (Nov. 13 CBC)
4. “Kids are
only going to do better when we put more resources in.” (Nov. 13 CBC)
Those who believe in collective bargaining and
democracy
can thank the teachers’ union. Why did it take four courts
over 15 years for Clark to do what’s right?
We have had terrible government, but they are blessed
with
a dysfunctional opposition who, by structure and
operations,
are poised to steel defeat from the jaws of
victory. The NDP
leader says education will be the number one issue in
the
May election.
Horgan will first face the self-inflicted hurdles
of gender equity and grizzly bears.
The continuing problems of union money and parachute
campaign managers appear insoluble. Locals win elections
when Soviet Central Planning gets out of the way. How long
does the party elite think they can continue running
losing
campaigns before an alternative overtakes them?
William G. Hills
Cranbrook, BC
250-489-1108
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