It was good of you to write and share your views: B.C. Education ADM

Annette, thanks for the reply respecting the issues I brought forward concerning the teachers dispute in your Province. (B.C.) Please send my regards to the Minister and her thoughtful approach to such a contentious issue and her resolve to put the students first. Please keep me apprised of the development of a new collective bargaining structure to be in place when negotiations begin again early next year under a new wage mandate.

This dear old Dad, with a less able son in Public School, can only hope and have faith that Ontario's Government is committed to solving long-standing problems with the bargaining process for teachers and school employers in our province, as much as Premier Gordon Campbell and Education Minister Shirley Bond do, and continue to by scheduling another roundtable discussion with teachers where government, school trustees, teachers, parents, principals and superintendents can talk about students' learning conditions.

Respectfully,

Mark-Alan Whittle

Mark-Alan, I have been asked to respond on behalf of the government to your recent correspondence concerning British Columbia teachers. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to you.

Government recognizes the dedication, knowledge and resources that teachers bring to classrooms throughout British Columbia. I am very pleased that the dispute is resolved and that children and their teachers are back in their classrooms. Government welcomed the involvement of respected facilitator Vince Ready and accepted his recommendations on all of the issues unconditionally, noting that they provide a constructive foundation to build on, while improving learning conditions for children in the classroom and improving communications with the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation.

Government is committed to solving long-standing problems with the bargaining process for teachers and school employers in this province. In order to address the systemic issues that have plagued bargaining in this sector since the early 1990’s, the government appointed Vince Ready as an Industrial Inquiry Commission on October 6. Vince Ready will recommend a new collective bargaining structure to be in place when negotiations begin again early next year under a new wage mandate.

Also, the Province and all education stakeholders, including the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation, recently took part in a permanent Learning Roundtable to discuss class size, class composition, and other issues related to learning conditions in the public school system. That first meeting of the Roundtable went very well and another meeting is scheduled for mid-November.

The government appreciates your interest in this matter. It was good of you to write and share your views.

Yours truly,

Annette Wall
Assistant Deputy Minister