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Letter: BC NDP continue tradition of treating teachers like garbage

Editor: On the BC NDP’s relationship with public school teachers, columnist Keith Baldrey remarks on “the reality that the party seems to have accepted” (NDP unperturbed by BCTF attacks, Nov. 28).
Teachers strike
On the line: A teachers walks the picket line at École Glenbrook Middle School during previous teachers' strike.

Editor:

On the BC NDP’s relationship with public school teachers, columnist Keith Baldrey remarks on “the reality that the party seems to have accepted” (NDP unperturbed by BCTF attacks, Nov. 28). 

I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean, but I get the impression Mr. Baldrey lacks adequate background on the situation. 

So let me explain.

To start, B.C.’s public school teachers want to do the best work they can, but are hindered by overcrowded classes and inadequate preparation time. 

Adding insult to injury, their working provisions are often inferior to those of teachers in other provinces, and their wages are among the worst in Canada. 

Enter the BC NDP, who, sensing some political capital to be gained, openly courted teachers, suggesting an NDP government would make things better. 

In response, teachers turned out in droves to make donations, knock on doors, and do other work to get the NDP elected. Then, once the NDP had finally formed government, they figured B.C. teachers had outgrown their usefulness, and proceeded to treat them exactly as the BC Liberals did.

In conclusion, the BC Liberals look to have been pretty honest brokers: they never pretended to teachers’ friends in the first place. But the BC NDP did. And this makes them a pretty deceitful bunch, to put it mildly. 

They’ve continued the B.C. tradition of treating teachers like garbage, undermining public education, and diverting public funds to private schools. Ask me in person what I think of the NDP, and I’ll be even more candid.

Patrick Parkes, New Westminster