Dear editor,
Re: Things great the way they are (Record, March 13).
The writer draws his own conclusion from the recent B.C. Teachers' Federation vote that saw 29 per cent of voters abstaining. He says these teachers are happy with the status quo.
I am not defending those teachers who do not vote, but the fact remains that 71 per cent voted in favour of some kind of change.
He compares apples to oranges in at least two instances.
He suggests the Alberta teachers are accepting less, so why should B.C. teachers be any different? He does not mention that previous to the Alberta settlement, Alberta teachers were coming off of a lucrative and unprecedented five-year deal.
In the second instance, he injects the business practices of a multinational company (Staples) based in the eastern U.S. as having relevance to governance in a public organization here in Western Canada.
Wow! That's a stretch!
He ends off by saying, "We are lucky to be working." This cap-in-hand rhetoric is nothing new.
If he wants to compare apples to oranges, only 71 per cent voted but that's 10 per cent better than the past federal election in which 39 per cent of Canadians didn't vote for the existing government.
The writer's ideas suggests those 39 per cent think "things are great the way they are" in Canada. Do we really think so?
Michael Lalonde,
Courtenay