No One Working on an Education Fix

(Aired on April 8, 2010)

MLA Terry Lake says it's fundamentally wrong to say the Liberal government doesn't have education as a priority. He, and his colleagues, continue to cite the increasing amount of money they're putting into education. They talk about their funding of full day kindergarten. They talk about putting money into a variety of special programs.

All these things may be well and good, but the government is not putting the education money where it's needed most-into basic education. All day kindergarten is an absolute frill. It's unnecessary and is really only a convenience to parents who don't want to hassle with daycare. Sorry, but that's a fact. No one will argue that it can't contribute positively to a child's education, but so can daycare. So can parents spending more quality time with their kids.

The government absolutely refuses to try to come to grips with the real problem in education - how to fund it in a time of declining enrollment. School Boards across the province are facing financial ruin, and here in this district, we've laid over hundreds of teaching positions the past few years simply because we can't find a new model. It's the same with health care, but don't get me started on that.

I find it absolutely reprehensible that our two MLAs can sit their and spout the party line, and can't go into Victoria and demand some change.

But it's not just the Liberals. The NDP has no solution either. Their solution is simply to put more money into the pot. That's not going to help. We've already done that.

We need to sit down and find a better way. It's not going to be an easy solution, and the longer we wait to come to grips with it, the bigger the problem will become.

Where are the people with vision for this province? Where are the leaders who will lead us out of the educational wasteland? Both the Liberals and NDP should be ashamed. So should senior bureaucrats in the Education Ministry who should be helping to lead this fight. Where are the visionaries who led this province to greatness? Obviously not living in B.C. any more.