MLA Linda Larson. (File photo)
Documents obtained by the provincial NDP call into question the claim from Education Minister Mike Bernier that he was meeting “daily” with MLA Linda Larson about the Osoyoos school closure issue.
NDP Education Critic Rob Fleming said his party used the freedom of information (FOI) law to obtain copies of Bernier’s schedules for January and February as well as correspondence between Larson’s and Bernier’s offices.
There was no record of any meeting between Larson and Bernier to discuss the possible closure of Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS).
This seems to contradict Bernier’s assertion in the B.C. Legislature on March 3 that Larson “meets with me daily to talk about this issue.”
Asked about this discrepancy, Larson issued an emailed reply last week.
“I did not have formal calendar set meetings with the minister as I see him many times throughout a normal day at the Legislature,” Larson responded.
“We did speak almost daily in terms of what the latest news was, just making sure both of us were aware of the issues,” she continued. “The Legislature did not sit until after the Family Day weekend in February and due to personal issues I have been on leave for the last six weeks and have not seen or talked to the minister during that time.”
In the past, Fleming has criticized Larson for not attending the “public consultation” meetings on February 9 and March 8 about the school closures.
Fleming acknowledges that Larson and Bernier could have conversed in the hallways or before caucus meetings. But he said it’s strange that there was never a scheduled time for a meeting.
“Given the seriousness of this issue for the town that MLA Larson represents, one would think there would be formal meetings to request the involvement of ministry staff,” said Fleming. “Also to bring forward the published views and studies of the issue coming from her constituents. There are just literally volumes of presentations and information about the economic risks and the educational threat to the town of Osoyoos by the closure of the school.”
Fleming was in Osoyoos for the March 8 consultation meeting and he plans to return this week when School District 53 votes on the third and final reading of a bylaw to close OSS.
The opposition MLA said that given the urgency of the situation and the amount of information provided by constituents, Larson should have formally met with the minister and asked him to use his staff to examine the ideas put forward by residents of Osoyoos.
“The minister has considerable bureaucracy at his disposal to work with a community like Osoyoos,” Fleming said. “It’s not clear to me, based on this FOI, that those kinds of avenues were pursued.”
Only two items of correspondence from Larson’s office were obtained through the NDP’s FOI request.
One was an email dated Feb. 4 from Colleen Misner, Larson’s senior constituency assistant, requesting that Bernier’s Executive Assistant Tristan Denniston arrange to have the ministry reply to a letter from a constituent on the school issue and that the letter be forwarded to Bernier and Premier Christy Clark.
The other was a request for talking points.
Fleming is not impressed.
“It seems like the MLA’s office is more concerned with getting a centralized response to an emerging and incredibly important issue in the community than to actually take the time to meet with the community and present their views to the minister,” said Fleming.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
Mike Bernier, B.C. Minister of Education
Rob Fleming, NDP Education Critic
