The B.C. Teachers' Federation was generous enough to mail me a little brochure called Better Schools for BC.
The brochure says 6,600 new teachers would have to be hired to bring B.C.'s student-educator ratio up to the national average.
I'm not a math teacher, so I took off my shoes and socks and did some old-fashioned arithmetic. Using $50,000 as an approximate annual salary, taxpayers would have to cough up over $300 million for the wages of these new teachers.
Premier Christy Clark and her budgetary numerologists (more correctly known as prognosticating economic spin doctors) had to announce the sale of Crown assets to make the numbers of their so-called balanced budget add up.
"Kids Matter, Teachers Care" is a clever slogan for selling the warm and fuzzy message that education is important. But where is the money supposed to come from?
Surely, the BCTF doesn't expect the provincial government to transfer money out of the Ministry of Health into education. Perhaps the BCTF wants the government to generate more revenue by fast-tracking the Enbridge pipeline and by selling offshore oil and gas drilling rights.
Maybe the BCTF is in favour of rolling back the pensions and benefits of provincial civil servants.
Too bad their little brochure didn't specify who is supposed to shell out the extra $568 million for the education budget. Basic arithmetic indicates every British Columbian would have to contribute in excess of $100 to accumulate such a sum.
Oh dear, I just heard someone from the NDP shout "We'll raise corporate taxes."
Let's hope that wasn't Adrian Dix.
Lloyd Atkins,
Vernon