Dear Editor:
In 2008, the Liberal government here in British Columbia downloaded the closing of schools onto local district school boards.
Closing schools was putting way too much heat on the ruling party’s MLAs.
The provincial government perpetuated a big lie by stating local district school boards are best able to make decisions as to which schools should be closed.
Isn’t there a serious conflict of interest here?
The reality is the provincial government then short changed the school district budgets and threatened to fire all trustees if they didn’t balance the books.
The results ever since have been completely predictable.
The trustees immediately go into self-preservation mode and think only about how they don’t want to close any schools in their respective towns in order to keep their jobs as trustees.
Any chance of objectivity is gone before the first meeting takes place and backroom deals become the order of the day. Any school “selected” to be closed does not stand a chance of surviving.
On only a few occasions will the trustees vote in the best interest of all of the communities they represent and often as not they are fired for taking a moral stand.
The trustees are elected by local citizens of the districts they represent. How can the government fire your democratically-elected trustees?
The provincial government has put the axe for closing schools in the hands of trustees and then holds a gun to their head to ensure compliance.
These are the tactics used by a morally bankrupt government and a stark reminder much darker days leading to the onset of the Second World War in Germany.
Democracy is only a word the B.C. government uses when it is in their best interests.
What has taken place has a simple word – bullying.
What a sad day for all British Columbians.
Thank you for allowing me to voice this opinion.
Martin Sadd
Osoyoos, B.C.
