Flanked by Boundary-Similkameen NDP candidate Colleen Ross (left) and local teachers, B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan speaks about education. Osoyoos, he said, is a symbol of the B.C. Liberal government’s neglect of public education, blaming the government for the threatened closure of Osoyoos Secondary School last year. (Richard McGuire photo)
B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan arrived in Osoyoos Thursday afternoon on a campaign bus newly wrapped with images of himself with ordinary British Columbians.
The writ to officially launch the election is still days away, but the B.C. Liberal government, he said, has already been busy campaigning hard using public resources.
“It seemed to me like the time to get the big bus out on the road and I’m delighted to be in Osoyoos today,” he told a room with a handful of local supporters, party workers and a group of teachers he’d brought in to stand behind him as he spoke.
Local NDP candidate Colleen Ross stood beside Horgan, but didn’t speak.
The campaign bus has been on the road just two days and until the Osoyoos stop, Horgan was highlighting the suggestion that Premier Christy Clark is a “political vagabond” by showing up in ridings that Clark has previously represented.
There was a stop in Port Moody to talk about healthcare. Then on to Point Grey to talk about influence of big money and corporate donors on the B.C. Liberals’ policy choices.
“This morning we were in Kelowna, the most recent stop on Christy Clark’s political tour as an MLA,” said Horgan. The issue there was seniors’ care.
The topic chosen for Osoyoos was public education.
“Osoyoos became a symbol of the B.C. Liberals’ complete and utter neglect and lack of respect for teachers, the lack of concern for kids and their inability to understand that we needed to invest in classrooms, not courtrooms,” said Horgan.
He pointed to resources stripped from classrooms and schools from special education teachers, librarians to counsellors, as the teachers posed behind him nodded.
“Their last insults on their injury tour of public education was a call to close the secondary school here in Osoyoos,” Horgan said. “You cannot take the heart out of a community without consequences and I was so proud of the community banding together in the hundreds to meet publicly and to say with one clear voice to the government of British Columbia that public education is important to the people of this community.”
A day earlier the B.C. government announced it is using the Rural Education Enhancement Fund (REER) to ensure 11 schools remain open. And they reiterated their previous pledge to provide $410,426 to keep OSS open another year.
Asked whether an NDP government would continue the REER or bring in another program to keep rural schools open, Horgan left his options open.
“We’re going to be reviewing the funding formula broadly to make sure that we’re putting dollars into classrooms,” he said. “We’re going to make sure that teachers surrounding us here have the resources and tools they need to make sure our kids are getting the education they deserve.”
Horgan added that this doesn’t just mean bricks and mortar.
“The Liberals disconnect teachers from the buildings and parents from their kids,” he said. “I think we need to bring all that together starting with early childhood education.”
An NDP government, he said, would bring in $10 a day childcare, which will help determine early on, before children reach kindergarten to Grade 12, if they’re going to need assistance.
“Those assessments can be done at an early age so we don’t have to find out in Grade 5 or 6 that a child has a learning disability that would hold them back,” he said.
The Osoyoos Times also asked Horgan a couple questions on healthcare.
Horgan is calling for a readjustment of the way health services are delivered.
“We need to get off the disease model and onto the wellness model,” he said. “That means having clinics in communities that have a wide range of healthcare professionals.”
This can include salaried doctors, nurse practitioners, licensed practical nurses (LPNs), registered nurses (RNs), dieticians, counsellors and other healthcare professionals.
Asked to comment on MLA Linda Larson’s statement that the government is training doctors as fast as it can, but that they are dealing with an aging population, Horgan disagreed.
“After 16 years in government, I find it shocking that a representative of the B.C. Liberal government would say we just woke up and discovered there were aging people in British Columbia,” Horgan replied.
These trends have been self-evident to anybody, he said.
“It’s almost inconceivable that Ms. Larson would proffer up her solution or their suggestion that the crisis is the result of people aging,” said Horgan. “We’ve known that for some time. What we need is a government that’s focused on the future and making sure we have the services we need in communities right across B.C.”
The decision to come to Osoyoos early in the campaign suggests that NDP considers Boundary-Similkameen to be a riding they can win.
In the May 2013 election, Larson beat NDP candidate Sam Hancheroff by 1,386 votes, a spread of just 6.6 percentage points.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
Osoyoos resident Sy Murseli (left) greeted NDP Leader John Horgan as he arrived at the Sonora Community Centre. Behind are local residents Michael Ryan and Cathie Baskett. (Richard McGuire photo)
B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan speaks with local teachers at the end of his campaign stop at the Sonora Community Centre. (Richard McGuire photo)
Wrapped with images of ordinary British Columbians, the NDP campaign bus has been on the road for two days. Leader John Horgan, pictured with Boundary-Similkameen candidate Colleen Ross, said he started his campaign tour early because the B.C. Liberals have been campaigning recently using public resources. (Richard McGuire photo)
