It mystifies me why more owners of small and medium-size businesses do not understand the benefits to them of public servants being paid decent wages and the importance of contracts.
With the Coalition of B.C. Businesses filing for intervener status in the dispute between the government and teachers, obviously there is a portion who appreciate neither.
As outlined in one of John Harding’s recent editorials, when locals reinvest in our community, there is a beneficial multiplier effect. This happens whether the investments are public or private as long as it is targeted at the low or middle income levels. They tend to spend more of their income locally.
This is real economics — not the fantasy kind promoted by the Fraser and related institutes. They claim the more our public policies, including our tax systems, benefit the rich and global corporations, the more we all benefit.
In reality, most of what “trickles down” are the social, environmental and fiscal costs plus a broken democracy while wealth is siphoned upwards.
What has this to do with teachers being targeted by successive governments? To begin to unpack that we need to be aware of the 1975 Report to the Trilateral Commission: The Crisis of Democracy. It identifies, in countries like Canada and the U.S., the primary threat to the “governability of a democracy” (for the one per cent) is a “highly educated, mobilized and participant society.”
So began the stealth war against public education. We need this piece to understand what has been and is going on with our public schools. We also need to know who is funding this war and why.
According to research done by SFU’s Donald Gutstein, in Canada, one of the primary funders is the Weston Family. Their 2013 worth increased 26 per cent to $10.4 billion. Of this, they gave more than $22 million in tax-deductible donations to the Fraser Institute for programs designed, in my opinion, to undermine public confidence in our public schools.
Why is the Coalition of B.C. Businesses supporting policies that enrich the likes of the Westons while hurting themselves, their families and their communities?
Yvonne Zarowny
Qualicum Beach
