I continue to closely monitor the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic. I follow and I urge you to follow the advice of British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, BC Minister of Health Adrian Dix and the Public Health Agency of Canada. It is critical that we follow credible advice from trusted sources and not fall victim to rumours and inaccurate information. Our BC Health Minister and Provincial Health Officer are doing an exemplary job of keeping the public informed during this public health crisis and I am very grateful for their steady leadership.

While COVID-19 is particularly serious to the elderly and those with compromised immune systems, millennials are also at risk. In a recent study of 2143 pediatric COVID-19 patients in China, it was also noted that:

“Children at all ages were sensitive to COVID-19, and there was no significant gender difference. Clinical manifestations of children’s COVID-19 cases were less severe than those of adults’ patients.”

and that

“of the 2143 pediatric patients included in this study, only one child died and most cases were mild, with much fewer severe and critical cases (5.9%) than adult patients (18.5%).“

So COVID-19 represents a broad, population wide, health risk.

If you are interested in tracking the global advance of the pandemic, Johns Hopkins University has put together an interactive map of the global reach of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of particular note in their analysis is the extent to which the Chinese efforts have controlled the spread of the disease outbreak locally. This shows that the actions imposed by our public health officers work and so it is imperative we listen to and follow their advice.

Constituency office

As a result of the coronavirus, the Oak Bay-Gordon Head constituency office at 219-3930 Shelbourne St. will not be open to the public, but we will continue to provide service to constituents and encourage you to contact us if needed. Please contact us by email at andrew.weaver.mla@leg.bc.ca or by phone at (250) 472-8528. We have taken the step of closing the constituency office for face-to-face meetings to minimize risk to everyone. This is part of social distancing which is so important to reduce the risk of infection.

With the situation changing daily and the constant flood of information about coronavirus, it can be difficult to keep track of the latest public health guidelines and recommendations. While this information may quickly become outdated, this blog post highlights the individual steps that we can all take right now to do our part to reduce the impact of COVID-19 in British Columbia.

Social distancing & personal hygiene

The corona virus spreads very quickly. Without the necessary public health interventions, a relatively small number of cases could quickly turn into an unmanageably large number them. The Washington Post has provides further insight to illustrate how this transmission occurs and can be avoided. We can all take important steps right now to slow the spread of the disease. We slow it down through social distancing and meticulous personal hygiene.

Social Distancing

Social distancing involves taking measures to avoid close personal contact with others where the virus can be spread. As a result, many facilities we are accustomed to regularly using, such as restaurants, bars, recreation centers, and retail outlets, are now closing. Although those actively experiencing symptoms are more likely to be spreading the virus, it can take up to 14 days for symptoms to emerge and the virus can be spread to others during this time.

The public health authorities highly recommend taking the following steps:

• Work remotely where possible
• Wash your hands frequently
• Keep at least one meter between yourself and others
• If you are you are experiencing what could be COVID-19 symptoms – including a fever, cough, sneezing, sore throat, or difficulty breathing – you must self-isolate for 14 days.

Self-Isolation means:

• Not leaving home unless completely necessary
• Not using public transport or go to school, work, or other public areas
• Making arrangements to ensure that you’re able to get the groceries and supplies you need
• Staying in a separate room and use a separate bathroom from others in your home, if possible
• Keeping two meters between yourself and others if you need to be in contact with them
• Avoiding contact with pets who could spread the virus to others in your household

Personal Hygiene

Beyond just social distancing, the other thing we can all do to prevent the spread of the virus is to practice excellent personal hygiene both at work and at home. This means:

• Washing your hands far more frequently than you are accustomed. Wash them for at least 20 seconds, and dry them with disposable paper towels or reusable paper towels.
• Avoiding touching your eyes, nose, and mouth
• Coughing into your elbow rather than your hands
• Cleaning and disinfecting common surfaces at least once a day

The ultimate goal of these measures is twofold. The first is to protect vulnerable populations (i.e. the elderly and those who are immunocompromised) from contracting the virus. These demographic groups are far more likely to become seriously ill or die from COVD-19. The second is to prevent our healthcare system from becoming so overwhelmed by the virus that it loses its ability to effectively respond. We need to ensure that our healthcare system has the resources, personnel, and capacity to treat those who require hospitalization or become critically ill.

This graphic from the Washington Post illustrates helps to illustrate how social distancing or the lack of social distancing impacts public health outcomes. We’re social creatures by nature and it can be difficult to let go of old habits and practices. Following the advice of experts and public health officials now, to socially distance ourselves and maintain excellent personal hygiene, the situation will be made more manageable for those on the frontlines of the pandemic.

Maintain social connections & offering help to those who need it

With the rise of social distancing, the normal activities that enrich people’s lives may be increasingly suspended. From playing soccer at a local park to meeting friends at a local pub to going out to a movie, the kinds of activities that have become integral to our social routines will be temporarily disrupted. With the coronavirus bringing a certain degree of social disruption to our lives, it is vital that we work to maintain our social connections.

Social distancing does not have to mean complete social isolation. Make sure that you keep phoning and virtually communicating with friends and family. Reach out to those people who will be spending more time indoors such as the elderly or those with underlying health conditions. Arrange to go for a walk with a friend (keeping one metre apart). Instead of passively consuming content on social media platforms or streaming services, use the digital tools we have at our disposal (computers and telephone) to connect with others. While virtual community does not completely replace close in-person communities, we need to be ready to conduct our more usual activates using the internet or phone lines. People are already conducting activities in virtual space which they would normally have undertaken in person. People are creating yoga classes, church services, and dinner parties online. Taking steps to maintain our social connections will help to keep some semblance of normalcy in abnormal times. It prevents us from feeling apart even if we are physically part.

Community Effort Required

Getting through the coronavirus pandemic will require a community wide effort to step up and help those who require assistance. Those in self-isolation will need others to help them obtain food, medication, and basic household supplies. Healthcare workers and their families will be going through a stressful time in which we ask a great deal from them. If you know any of these people, consider asking how you can help them. One phone call or conversation can make a huge difference in people’s lives.

For nearly all of us, this will be the first large scale public health crisis that we have experienced. Accounts of the Spanish flu are found in history books. More recently, the world managed to avoid the worst with SARs and H1N1. Modern society is now in uncharted territory, it can be easy to give in to panic, hysteria, and misinformation. Now, more than ever, we need to heed the advice of experts, make individual sacrifices for collective benefit, and extend solidarity to those in need. I am incredibly grateful to all the public health workers on the front lines who are working around the clock to keep us all safe. They should be lauded for their efforts and we all owe them a debt of gratitude. Stay informed, stay safe, and reach out to those require help.

Self-assessment tool for Covid-19

For many of us, it may be difficult to determine whether we have contracted COVID-19. To help determine whether you need further assessment or testing the province has created a self-assessment tool which you can complete for yourself or on behalf of someone else.

For more information on COVID-19 please visit:

1. Island Health updates: https://www.islandhealth.ca/news/news-releases
2. BC Centre for Disease Control: http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19
3. BC Government News website: https://news.gov.bc.ca/
4.  Government of Canada Public Health Agency: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health.html
5. BC Hydro COVID-19 Customer Assistance Program: https://www.bchydro.com/news/conservation/2020/covid-19-updates.html

If you believe you may have symptoms of COVID-19, or may have been exposed, please call HealthLink BC at 8-1-1, a free-of-charge provincial health information and advice phone line for further instruction. For the deaf and hard of hearing, call 7-1-1 to arrange for safe testing.

In an effort to ease the burden on HealthLink 811, B.C. has set up a dedicated COVID-19 line at 1-888-COVID19 or text at 1-888-268-4319.

On Thursday this week members of the BC Legislature will vote on the BC NDP’s 2020 budget.

The BC NDP’s 2020 budget continues to build on the positive work done since my colleagues and I first signed the Confidence and Supply Agreement (CASA) in 2017. The Premier and I reiterated our ongoing support for the CASA agreement in letters we exchanged shortly after I left the BC Green Caucus to sit as an independent as their leadership race unfolds.

In my view, Budget 2020 delivers on multiple fronts by making investments which will benefit numerous demographic groups. And rather than becoming mired in politically expedient short-termism, the budget charts a path forward to an economy centered around sustainable development and innovation.

This budget reflects many of our shared priorities. While no budget will please everyone, and all budgets can be criticized for what’s not in them, taken together I am very pleased with what’s in Budget 2020 and look forward to supporting it in the upcoming vote.

Below I expand upon my media release from last week and provide further thoughts and reflections on Budget 2020.

Affordability

Currently, the high cost of living in urban areas in BC is putting the comfortable middle-class lifestyle enjoyed by previous generations out of reach for large segments of the population, and the government is addressing the issue by continuing to introduce measures designed to make life more affordable. The complete removal of MSP premiums should save a family of four $1,800 per year while raising the earnings exemption for those on income and disability should put more money back into the pockets of those who need it most.

I am absolutely thrilled to see the regressive form of taxation embodied in MSP premiums finally eliminated. I’ve been working towards this end since January 2015 when I first announced that the BC Green Party, if elected, would eliminate the MSP premium and replace it with a progressive form of revenue generation mirroring what was done in Ontario. Public support for this was overwhelming as indicated by the tens of thousands of British Columbians who signed petitions or emailed their MLAs, and by the fact that both the BC NDP and the BC Liberals eventually also embedded a promise to eliminate MSP premiums in their 2017 election platforms.

Ongoing funding increases to childcare in BC should help to alleviate an economic stress for young families while benefiting the entire economy through greater female participation in the labour force, families with more disposable income, and the creation of jobs related to early childhood care.

On the housing front, the combination of the speculation tax (which I spent much time working on collaboratively with the Finance Minister to ensure it was razor focused on urban speculation) and the construction of affordable housing should bring unit costs down, but these measures need to be combined with continued conversations with municipalities about ways to increase density to most effectively deal with the housing crisis. Further work is needed to combat underemployment (only 39,300 of the 65,400 jobs created last year were full-time) and to provide support to those dealing with addictions, homelessness, and mental health issues, but in a time of economic uncertainty the government is continuing to devote resources to ensuring that those who require assistance are able to get it.

Education and Youth

For years, BC has been the only province without an up-front, needs-based, post-secondary educational grant. The 2020 budget rectifies this situation by introducing the BC Access Grant. Making the grant up-front is especially important because it gives students immediate financial aid, allowing them to focus on their studies without the added stress of worrying about how they are going to pay tuition or loans. The grant will also be of medium-term economic benefit to the province, helping to address anticipated shortages of healthcare providers and workers equipped with the skills needed to power an economy driven by green energy and intangibles.

The growing number of students requesting access to on campus mental health supports has been well documented and the government has responded with the introduction of a new 24/7 mental health counselling service. This system will help to provide many students with the support they need to navigate the challenges of living away from home for the first time, the pressures induced by social media, and the financial stressors that come with being a student. The new support network is not panacea to the increasing number of young adults who experience mental health challenges, but its creation demonstrates that the government is taking students’ concerns seriously and is working to address them.

Additionally, after years of inadequate funding, the government is continuing to make investments into supplying the teachers, psychologists, and educational assistants needed to maintain our public education system’s status as one of the best in the world. Indeed, a primary driver of long-term economic growth, a well-educated, skilled workforce, can only be produced through investments into our public education system now.

Strong education systems  correlate with positive health outcomes, greater social mobility, and higher levels of civic engagement. However, the mismatch between four-year political timelines and the time it takes to see the benefits of investments into education can create incentives for governments to shirk their responsibilities to adequately fund public education systems. By taking the long view and investing substantial resources into our education system now, the government is continuing to demonstrate that it is committed to sustaining our province’s prosperity.

Capital Projects and Innovation

Government choosing to make record-breaking investments into infrastructure projects while capital is cheap is a prudent choice which will help the province to deal with multiple immediate and looming challenges. Transportation related infrastructure projects such as the Pattullo Bridge replacement, Skytrain expansions, and additional HOV lanes should tackle pressures associated with continued urbanization and help to reduce congestion and pollution while facilitating the smooth flow of goods and services. Hospital overcrowding, another pressing issue in the province, promises to see relief through the construction and renovation of multiple hospitals. Additionally, the construction and renovation of numerous schools will assist areas of the province dealing with demographic pressures, and ongoing seismic upgrading is a much needed investment after years of delayed progress.

Innovative design and the integration of BC engineered wood products and energy/energy conservation systems into these capital projects demonstrates British Columbia’s ongoing leadership in recognizing that the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions can be paired with job creation throughout the province. Although it is true that the province’s debt will increase in order to finance these record-breaking capital projects, our debt to GDP ratio remains at a sustainable level.

I was also pleased to see that  government is providing a roadmap to an economy with sustainability and entrepreneurship as its cornerstones, the importance of which I have emphasized to government in countless hours of discussions and negotiations.

We have the resources to transition to an innovation driven, low-carbon economy but businesses require the certainty that comes with a clear commitment from government to supporting emerging industries in order to feel comfortable investing in them. Although there are some measures which push in the opposite direction that I will continue to oppose, on balance, the province is signaling its commitment to supporting an emerging economy that realizes BC’s comparative advantages.

Measures such as targeted investments into the bioeconomy, the exemption of electric aircrafts and electric aircraft conversions from PST, and the pledge to establish a quantum computing institute all aid burgeoning industries capable of becoming areas of economic strength for the province. Ongoing incentives to purchase electric vehicles and charging stations are simple, smart demand-oriented policies which will continue to electrify transportation. More work is needed to encourage retrofitting and the development of renewable energy sectors which harness BC’s natural resources, but the province is well on its way to transitioning to the economy of tomorrow.

Rural Development

Rural areas of the province continue to be connected to high-speed internet, giving them access to the benefits of the digital economy, and forestry dependent communities will see much needed relief through The Forestry Worker Support Program. We need to continue to transition towards a more sustainable model of forestry which produces high value-added exports but the coastal revitalization initiative, investments into the bioeconomy, and the use of made in BC engineered wood are steps in the right direction.

The only way we’re going to compete in the resource world is not to just dig dirt out of the ground and think, somehow, we’re going to compete with a jurisdiction that doesn’t internalize the social and environmental externalities we value here. The way we do that is to be smarter, more efficient and cleaner. We do that by bringing the technology sector together with the resource sector. We do that by focusing on the value-added. We do that focusing on efficiency, being cleaner and selling those technologies elsewhere, like MineSense, Axine or others. I was pleased to see that the BC NDP government has recognized this in both Budget 2020 and their recent Throne Speech.

I feel that this government is on the right track. It understands where the future of our economy is. It doesn’t lie in simply continuing to dig dirt out of the ground. It never will. It lies in innovation. It lies in the harvesting our resources in innovative ways by bringing the tech sector together with that.

Concluding Remarks

Although the scale of action  may not be as large as some may desire, there is a lot to like in a budget that devotes resources to raising the standard of living for many now while articulating a positive long-term vision for the province. I look forward to supporting the budget on Thursday.

Today the BC NDP delivered the budget for the next fiscal year. Below I reproduce the media release my office issued in response to it. As you will see from the release (reproduced below), I was pleased with Budget 2020 and I look forward to expanding on these initial remarks when I respond in the legislature hopefully tomorrow.

Media Release

MLA Weaver responds to 2020 Budget
For Immediate Release
February 18, 2020

Victoria, BC — The BC NDP’s 2020 Budget is one that invests in the people of British Columbia and charts a path forward for a sustainable economy that works for everyone.

“I’m delighted to see this government continuing to work towards lowering the cost of living for middle class British Columbians,” said Andrew Weaver, MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head. “Actions such as the elimination of MSP premiums which I have long advocated for, the construction of new affordable housing units, the raising of earnings exemptions for those on income and disability assistance, and increased funding for childcare and public education should ensure that the benefits of economic growth in BC are widely shared”.

While the 2020 budget introduces several changes that positively impact the lives of British Columbians now, it is also forward looking, making significant investments into the future of the province and in particular today’s youth. Funding dedicated to increasing the supply of teachers, counsellors, and psychologists contribute to the positive social and cognitive development of our children as they move through school.

The creation of the needs-based, up-front BC Access Grant should equalize post-secondary educational opportunities in the province by allowing students to focus on their studies without worrying about how they are going to pay for their tuition. New 24/7 mental health resources for students at post-secondary institutions should no longer place young adults in a position where they feel like they have to choose between their personal well-being and academic success.

“BC’s 2020 budget also makes necessary infrastructure investments, at a time when access to capital is cheap, to manage a growing population while, at the same time, transitioning the province to a low-carbon economy by linking capital expenditures to Clean BC,” adds Weaver.

The construction of new hospitals, bridges, roads, houses, and schools promise to create numerous good, well-paying jobs in all regions of our province in addition to alleviating strains on public services.

“Innovative design and the integration of BC engineered wood products and energy/energy conservation systems into these capital projects demonstrates British Columbia’s ongoing leadership in recognizing that the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions can be paired with job creation throughout the province,” notes Weaver.

Although the budget does continue to devote resources to projects which I continue to oppose, such as the Site C dam and LNG developments, I am pleased that the government is now demonstrating its commitment to the economy of tomorrow by supporting the emerging bioeconomy, the quantum computing sector, the agri-tech and life sciences. The continued backing of renewable energy projects, ZEVs, and electric aircrafts will make our economic growth largely sustainable.

At its heart, the 2020 budget is one that places people first while embracing the opportunities created by technological and climatic change, ensuring that BC is well positioned to thrive moving forward.

MLA Weaver will monitor the progress and implementation of these budget measures to ensure they benefit the people of British Columbia.

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Media contact
Judy Fainstein
Executive Director
Legislative Office of Andrew Weaver, MLA
+1 250-744-7615 | Judy.Fainstein@leg.bc.ca

Great Victoria School District officially launched its initiative today to provide free access to menstrual products for students. Ensuring equitable access to menstrual products is an important issue long advocated for by groups like the United Way Period Promise campaign, and I am proud to have played a part in helping move this initiative along.

As you will see from my Question Period exchange the Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction:

“We all expect when we enter a public washroom that toilet paper is readily available and free. Why that isn’t the case for menstrual products is a very good question. One, I suspect, that if men had a menstrual cycle, we wouldn’t be asking today.“

Below I reproduce our media statement celebrating the BC Government and Victoria School District’s announcement.

Media Statement

BC Green caucus celebrates equitable access to menstrual products for students
For immediate release
September 5, 2019

VICTORIA, B.C. – Today the BC Green caucus is celebrating the official launch of the Greater Victoria School District’s initiative to provide free access to menstrual products for its students.

“Ensuring equitable access to menstrual products is an important issue long advocated for by groups like the United Way Period Promise campaign, and I am proud to have played a part in helping move this initiative along,” said B.C. Green Party Leader MLA Andrew Weaver.

In March, Weaver asked Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, as well as the Minister of Education, how the upcoming poverty reduction strategy will ensure that all children and youth have equal access to menstrual products. One month later, government announced it would require all public schools in the province to provide free menstrual products in school washrooms.

“In a minority government, a key part of our role is to bring new ideas to the table, advocate for great ideas already out there, and work with government to inspire them to act. In this case, we are thrilled at the outcome,” Weaver said. “No student should feel restricted in their ability to participate in lessons or sports because they lack access to a basic need.

“Protecting children from harm -whether it be stigma or abuse- and advancing gender equity have been two areas in which the B.C. Green Caucus and B.C. NDP clearly agree. Making schools and society safer and more equitable for all of our children is a nonpartisan pursuit that unites British Columbians.”

A B.C. Green Caucus bill amending the Residential Tenancy Act garnered tripartisan support this May and passed with full votes from the NDP and Liberals. The bill provides renters who are victims of violence associated with their home, or whose children are victims of violence, to break their fixed term lease and seek safety.

Also in May, B.C. Greens, alongside stakeholders and LGBTQ2+ rights advocates, tabled legislation that would ban the abusive practice of conversion therapy.

“We hope government continues to show support for the children of British Columbia this fall by working with our caucus to ban so-called conversion therapy,” Weaver said.

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Media contact
Macon L.C. McGinley | Press Secretary
B.C. Green Caucus
+1 250-882-6187 |macon.mcginley@leg.bc.ca

Children are starting the school year under a shadow of labour uncertainty. With the first day of the 2019-2020 academic year now behind us, teachers, children and their parents are wondering if and when contract negotiations will conclude or whether they will once more break down and lead to another strike.

Let’s be very clear, governments have choices to make. In the lead up to the 2017 election campaign, the BC Greens made public education our top priority. Our fully costed platform offered more than $4 billion in new funds over four years in support of this priority.

The BC NDP’s priorities are different. They have so far committed billions of dollars in subsidies to the oil and gas sector in an attempt to deliver what Christy Clark couldn’t — a single LNG facility. They have committed  billions to build the Site C dam whose electricity will be sold at a massive loss to this single LNG provider. And they decided to forego billions of dollars of future revenue by removing the tolls on the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges.

The BC Green 2017 platform promised to:

“Increase funding for schools, beginning in 2017/18 at $220 million and rising to $1.46 billion in 2020/21, to allow schools and school districts to invest in every child and prepare students for the 21st century economy, and to invest in innovation and technology. This is in addition to the $330 million committed by the BC Liberals to address the recent court ruling on class size.”

Public education is the foundation of any modern society. The BC Green party believes fundamentally in the importance of intergenerational equity and a preventative rather than reactive approaches to problem solving. For example, you will hear a lot about the struggles with the fentanyl crisis and young adults. Governments are good at funding “harm reduction projects” (reactive) but often don’t realize that prevention is just as critical. How many of our social problems today have arisen as a direct consequence of children growing up over the last dozen or so years without access to the services they needed to succeed (as these services were often the first casualties of the cuts to public education)?

The data from Statistics Canada are also very clear. BC Teachers are some of the lowest paid in the country. BC’s starting teacher wage is the second lowest in Canada (behind Quebec) and even after 10-15 years of experience, our BC teachers remain well behind most of the rest of Canada in terms of compensation. This wage gap is even more significant when one considers the cost of living in British Columbia, and in particular its urban areas, relative to the rest of the country. How can we expect to attract and retain the best and brightest to the profession if we are not willing to compensate them accordingly?

The BC Green public education platform extended beyond substantively increasing compensation for teachers and improving the support services for teachers and students. We further promised to:

1. Provide $10 million per year to restore funding for adult secondary education upgrading and language training
2. Direct $35 million into nutrition and physical activity programs to promote learning readiness, and improve student health.
3. Invest $140 million over three years to train teachers to deliver the new curriculum.
4. Work with Indigenous leaders, teachers, universities and colleges to develop policies and strategies to attract the brightest and best to the profession, and support recruitment. Special attention will be paid to increasing the number of Indigenous teachers and to incorporating more content on Indigenous culture into the curriculum.
5. Review the funding model for the K-12 education system with a view to ensuring equitable access for students. This will address targeting funding to schools with the greatest need and increasing local autonomy regarding funding priorities and distribution.

Imagine my surprise when I found out last spring that government was putting forth some of essentially the same proposals in contract negotiations that the former government did in 2014. In particular, the BC government tabled language regarding larger maximum class sizes and fewer specialty teachers. On May 27, 2019 I rose in the legislature during Question Period to ask the Minister of Education what he was thinking in doing this. I further asked what the Minister thought this would do to the morale of B.C. teachers given that starting in 2002 and culminating in the landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision on November 10, 2016, the BCTF fought hard to restore provisions regarding their ability to bargain class size and composition. In fact, the teacher’s had historically given up wage increases in order to ensure class size and compensation language was included in collective agreements.

Unfortunately, while government has changed, labour uncertainty and unrest in the public education sector continues.

Back in 2014, I wrote extensively about the then labour dispute between the BCTF and the BC Liberal government. It began with a detailed piece offering a path forward for BC public education. A quick keyword search of this site with “BCTF” reveals numerous additional posts discussing mediation, arbitration, the government’s negotiating tactics and myriad other issues.

In my April 2015 second reading speech to Bill 11 – The Education Statutes Amendment Act, seven months after the end of the last teachers’ strike, I provided a more extensive analysis of my views on the importance of public education. Bill 11 aimed at unilaterally allowing government control over the professional development of teachers, and empowering government to issue directives to school boards that they would be bound to follow. In that speech I stated:

At the end of the strike last fall the government spoke about “an historic six-year agreement…which means five years of labour peace ahead of us.” Rather than viewing this as five years of simmering anger waiting to boil over when the negotiations next begin, we should be capitalizing on this time to envision bold new ways of ensuring our educational system is sustainable.

This includes teachers being fairly compensated and adequately supported with properly funded curriculum and learning resources. Such support must include sincere and meaningful class size and composition discussions and support that recognizes that teacher burnout affects us all. It must include reinvigorating our educational infrastructure and ensuring that children have textbooks and access to learning materials.

On Thursday the B.C. Court of Appeal will release its decision concerning the rights of teachers to negotiate conditions around class size and composition. Rather than allowing this to serve as a catalyst to incite increased tension between the BCTF and the government, perhaps both parties will recognize the opportunities that will arise from mutual collaboration, no matter what the Court of Appeals decision is.

For example, perhaps there is a compromise on class size and composition negotiations. Why don’t the BCTF and the B.C. government both agree, for example, that the best place to negotiate class size and composition is at the local school district level?

Rereading my “path forward” and “Bill 11” posts reminds me of how little has changed since the BC NDP have taken over from the BC Liberals. When it comes to public education, the BC Liberals and the BC NDP appear to be two sides of the same coin albeit with different colours.

To conclude, governments make choices all the time as to where to invest public resources. The BC Greens made public education ($4.022 billion over 4 years) our top priority and we remain committed in this regard.

As I mentioned at the start, the BC NDP’s priorities are different. They have so far committed billions of dollars in subsidies to the oil and gas sector in an attempt to deliver what Christy Clark couldn’t — a single LNG facility. They have committed  billions to build the Site C dam whose electricity will be sold at a massive loss to this single LNG provider. And they decided to forego billions of dollars of future revenue by removing the tolls on the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges.

Government’s make choices. And now you see what those choices are.