Stand up for education
I believe that parents need to be more vocal in standing up for our children and our teachers [“Teachers’ contract dispute heats up,” May 28].
The media and our government would have you believe that the teachers are only out for more money.
I would love to see the education minister trying to teach a classroom of 25-30 children who all have special needs. Each child comes with special needs of their own. Some are gifted, some have behavioural problems but are not labelled as such. Some have mental disabilities, some have physical disabilities; all children learn differently. The number of children who come from a home with problems is on the increase. These children come to school and act out.
It is the government who is stopping the teachers from doing extracurricular activities and docking the teachers’ pay. Why? To save money. A full-out strike saves the government millions of dollars. The teachers never make up in wages the amount they lose when they go on strike. Why do they go on strike? The teachers strike because the government isn’t listening. Teacher Assistants are needed in most classrooms and fewer children per classroom. The teachers want the best education they can provide for our future generation.
Let’s get behind them.
Donna Lloyd
Highway 101
Ferry schedule does not work
As a life-long Texada Island resident, I can say that we islanders have been more than patient with BC Ferries over the years [“Ferries return to new schedule,” May 14].
After all the consulting done with all the coastal communities, the online surveys, the phone calls, the big booklets handed out, it makes one wonder who really is steering the boat?
For years we have risen at 5 am to catch the 6 am ferry, sat in the parking lot in Powell River for an hour and a half waiting to cross the water we had just been on (with no discount, unlike Salt Spring Island). The noon ferry to Vancouver Island was more liveable, we could catch the 10:30 am ferry and only wait for an hour to depart Powell River.
With the new schedule, the crossing that really burns people is the 11:25 am leaving Texada. We would dock in Powell River at about 11:55 am but that is impossible now as the Queen of Burnaby is scheduled to depart at noon. We bob around in the water for an additional 10 to 20 minutes until it leaves the berth.This schedule looks nothing like the one the local people suggested. The evening connection makes about as much sense as the afternoon one.
Then there are different schedules for the weekend and it throws us for another loop. My son plays soccer, used to be about a half hour early for his practice and game but now he is either 2.5 hours early or 20 minutes late. We settled for the latter.
Thank you BC Ferries, Premier Christy Clark and all your followers, for running these coastal communities into the ground. I am so angry.
Time will tell how our local businesses will do over the coming months. I hope the government is paying attention to the economic impact. How much revenue is lost not only with businesses (Shelter Point campground was awfully quiet this past long weekend) but also our property taxes which have dropped significantly along with our house values.
Deidre Braak
Texada Island
Ferry savings
We took a trip to Vancouver this week and I have to say, I was glad to see BC Ferry Corporation is using the extra money from the increased fares to reduce the enormous debt [“Ferries swipe at livelihood,” January 22].
I witnessed a perfect example of it: brand new garbage cans, all adorned with beautiful scenes of picturesque British Columbia. It almost made me cry.
Louise Fribance
Springbrook Road
