Underlying the plan was the notion that if the teachers went on strike, it would upset the public, which would then side with the government in its intent to force the legislation on teachers. As recently as this Tuesday, Ms. Clark said this was not true. Her Education Minister refuted it again on Wednesday. But those denials look incredibly shaky in light of the documents released by the NDP that were widely quoted by the party during Question Period. Mr. Straszak is asked on the stand: “So your objective as government was to increase the pressure on the teachers to have them go out on a full-scale strike? Is that correct?” His answer: “We – yes. I’ll say that’s correct.” As bad, Mr. Straszak says he briefed the Premier’s deputy, John Dyble, on the strategy ahead of a meeting with the provincial cabinet. Mr. Straszak also talked about the tools that were available to apply that strike pressure, such as cancelling teacher leaves and restricting funding to school districts. So this allegation no longer resides in the realm of hearsay or in the mind of a Supreme Court judge. This is the government’s chief negotiator with the BCTF talking about a plan to put tens of thousands of kids out of school to fulfill the government’s political agenda. And that’s about as damaging, optically, as it gets for a governing party.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 04:20:24 +0000
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