Editor, The News:
Re: B.C. teachers celebrate top court ruling on class size (mapleridgenews.com, Nov. 10).
Nov. 10, 2016 was the day management in the public sector changed forever.
The Supreme Court of Canada decided that public sector unions should have the right to manage and the ability to enshrine that right in contracts.
Now unions will have the ability to decide how publicly funded entities, specifically school boards in this case, have to deploy and manage the funding provided by the public to deliver the service they are legally obligated to supply.
Recent changes to federal legislation have reduced the obligation (already questionable) of unions to be accountable to their members, and unions have for many years operated with questionable democracy. Now the court has granted these organizations the ability to have control beyond reason.
For those who tend to think concern over appointments to the Supreme Court is a peculiarly American pastime, it is about time we started to be concerned in Canada.
If the Supreme Court of Canada gets to rule on the previous Manitoba government’s decision to guarantee no job loss in the public sector there, it will only add a significant amount of grease to an already slippery slope.
In my mind, Black Thursday is not a day to celebrate by shopping but to mourn a loss of rights.
Fred McCreath
White Rock
