Monday, March 22, 2010
harmonized sales tax
Its time for the BC Liberals to admit to what the HST really is. Its an attack on the health of British Columbians. Colin Hansen, Gordon Campbell and the rest of the BC Liberals have told us that the HST will be used to pay for the BC health care system. Maybe it will, maybe it will not. What the HST certainly will do is make it more likely that those health care services are going to be needed by British Columbians. The harmonized sales tax increases the cost of many of the activities we take upon ourselves in order to stay healthy; gym memberships, sports fees, healthy groceries and even life saving safety equipment will all increase in price thanks to the harmonized sales tax. The HST also punishes people for thinking of being environmentally friendly. Many people walk, bike or ride public transit to get to work, which is healthier for both people and the environment than taking private vehicles. The HST increases the price of transit fare, transit passes and bicycles, making it less cost effective to use those forms of transportation. This is going to create a more sedentary society that will suffer from increased health risks. Its insanity that the BC Liberals are going to use the HST, which they admit will bring in less government revenue, to pay for a service that will be used more because of that same tax. Please, tell your local MLA to vote against this attack on your health, vote against taxing healthy living.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Education by the numbers
Today was the opening day of a new session of the BC Legislature. I for one am glad that the representatives of the People have started to go back to work; the vacation they were able to enjoy was not one that their constituents were able to have, as most of us had school or jobs that required our daily attention.
Speaking of schools, today's floor debate centered around that very topic. It would have been a very informative debate, one that the people of British Columbia deserve to hear. Except that the governing BC Liberals didn't bother showing up with anything other than stock answers.
As it turns out, there isn't anything that is going to be done about the rampant school closures that have already occurred throughout the province. There's also nothing planned to help save the schools which are slated to be closed in the next couple of years. These school closures continue to hit our rural communities the hardest; these places are already losing people and skilled labour, and without schools there is no way to replace those who are leaving. But, don't let that worry you! Minister MacDiarmid has assured us that those students who still have a school to go to will receive more funding than ever before. The only problem here is just making sure they have a school to be taught in.
Of course, getting to an open school isn't the only problem for today's students. Once they're in the buildings, students are finding themselves in more crowded classrooms than ever. This government created legislation that specifically outlines the size and composition of British Columbia classrooms. What this government has failed to do is to enforce this legislation. Since the legislation has passed, there has been a forty-five percent increase in the number of British Columbia classrooms that violate those size limitations. The same can be said for the number of classes that exceed the limit of personalized education plan students. Forty-five percent increases are an indisputable number, with some districts reporting a more than one hundred percent increase in these violations.
Once again, the only line that the BC Liberals are willing to give is that funding has continued to increase per student, even as enrollment rates have declined in the province.
I have a problem with this Government meme about funding increasing. Mainly that it doesn't reflect reality. If you surveyed the various school districts in British Columbia, you would find it nearly impossible to find one that is not seriously in debt for the upcoming fiscal year. School districts are mandated by law to pass balanced budgets, so this has caused incredibly cruel cuts to be made to school budgets, cuts that affect our children's ability to learn in a productive environment.
Of course, this is probably news for the Liberals and particularly for Minister MacDiarmid. The minister, when asked about her portfolio and specifically the cuts her department has downloaded onto the school boards, began a pleasant, and utterly irrelevant, discussion about how children in some schools are learning the value of saving money to help Haiti. This is an admirable goal being expressed by the children. I wonder how amazed they would be if someone started asking them to save up so they could pay to get through the second grade this year; its more of a possibility than the BC Liberals would like to admit, thanks to their shameless handling of the education portfolio.
BC Liberal promises have fallen by the wayside over and over again, and in no area has this hurt more than in education. Minister MacDiarmid has promised that education funding will be a priority for this government. I sincerely hope that this time, the BC Liberal promise will mean more than empty words and a slashed budget.
I come today from the budget debate and the remains of yesterday's debate on education. The update from here on are straight from the hansard debate; I can only hope that the people speaking weren't actually saying something else.
Today's budget was absolutely schizophrenic in terms of the money earmarked for our education system. We have been promised continued increases in funding, and yet at the same time the Finance Minister is challenging our school districts to find even more cuts to make, cuts that our education system simply cannot afford. This government doesn't seem to be aware that there is nothing left to cut, that we are now at the point where teachers are losing their jobs and entire buildings are being sold off just to maintain balanced budgets for our school districts.
That is what a BC Liberal promise for increased education funding looks like; it looks like cuts to our school's services and it looks like reduced quality of our education system. Where is this increased funding? Its surely not going to the people and places that need it most desperately.
Speaking of schools, today's floor debate centered around that very topic. It would have been a very informative debate, one that the people of British Columbia deserve to hear. Except that the governing BC Liberals didn't bother showing up with anything other than stock answers.
As it turns out, there isn't anything that is going to be done about the rampant school closures that have already occurred throughout the province. There's also nothing planned to help save the schools which are slated to be closed in the next couple of years. These school closures continue to hit our rural communities the hardest; these places are already losing people and skilled labour, and without schools there is no way to replace those who are leaving. But, don't let that worry you! Minister MacDiarmid has assured us that those students who still have a school to go to will receive more funding than ever before. The only problem here is just making sure they have a school to be taught in.
Of course, getting to an open school isn't the only problem for today's students. Once they're in the buildings, students are finding themselves in more crowded classrooms than ever. This government created legislation that specifically outlines the size and composition of British Columbia classrooms. What this government has failed to do is to enforce this legislation. Since the legislation has passed, there has been a forty-five percent increase in the number of British Columbia classrooms that violate those size limitations. The same can be said for the number of classes that exceed the limit of personalized education plan students. Forty-five percent increases are an indisputable number, with some districts reporting a more than one hundred percent increase in these violations.
Once again, the only line that the BC Liberals are willing to give is that funding has continued to increase per student, even as enrollment rates have declined in the province.
I have a problem with this Government meme about funding increasing. Mainly that it doesn't reflect reality. If you surveyed the various school districts in British Columbia, you would find it nearly impossible to find one that is not seriously in debt for the upcoming fiscal year. School districts are mandated by law to pass balanced budgets, so this has caused incredibly cruel cuts to be made to school budgets, cuts that affect our children's ability to learn in a productive environment.
Of course, this is probably news for the Liberals and particularly for Minister MacDiarmid. The minister, when asked about her portfolio and specifically the cuts her department has downloaded onto the school boards, began a pleasant, and utterly irrelevant, discussion about how children in some schools are learning the value of saving money to help Haiti. This is an admirable goal being expressed by the children. I wonder how amazed they would be if someone started asking them to save up so they could pay to get through the second grade this year; its more of a possibility than the BC Liberals would like to admit, thanks to their shameless handling of the education portfolio.
BC Liberal promises have fallen by the wayside over and over again, and in no area has this hurt more than in education. Minister MacDiarmid has promised that education funding will be a priority for this government. I sincerely hope that this time, the BC Liberal promise will mean more than empty words and a slashed budget.
I come today from the budget debate and the remains of yesterday's debate on education. The update from here on are straight from the hansard debate; I can only hope that the people speaking weren't actually saying something else.
Today's budget was absolutely schizophrenic in terms of the money earmarked for our education system. We have been promised continued increases in funding, and yet at the same time the Finance Minister is challenging our school districts to find even more cuts to make, cuts that our education system simply cannot afford. This government doesn't seem to be aware that there is nothing left to cut, that we are now at the point where teachers are losing their jobs and entire buildings are being sold off just to maintain balanced budgets for our school districts.
That is what a BC Liberal promise for increased education funding looks like; it looks like cuts to our school's services and it looks like reduced quality of our education system. Where is this increased funding? Its surely not going to the people and places that need it most desperately.
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