Teachers' union wants education focus in B.C.'s 2024 election
We haven't heard the candidates talk much about education during B.C.'s 2024 election campaign, but the teachers' union is trying to put the spotlight on that issue.
From an ongoing shortage of educators to the thousands of children learning in portable classrooms, it hasn’t been a smooth ride for the NDP government on the education file since taking power in 2017.
“Have they done enough? No, not as much as we would like,” BC Teachers’ Federation President Clint Johnston told CTV News in an interview at the union’s headquarters on Friday.
“But you know, their steps forward have been positive. And, more importantly, I think it’s that there hasn’t been any really impactful and harmful things done on students.”
By impactful and harmful, the BCTF is referencing the BC Conservatives' plan to remove sexual orientation and gender identity – or SOGI – resources from the school system if the party forms government.
“We’re going to make sure we get all of that ideology and all this sort of stuff out of our education system,” said BC Conservative Leader John Rustad said during a town hall in Prince George last week, to applause.
“That includes getting rid of SOGI.”
Rustad has been consistent in his stance on pushing back against SOGI – challenging the NDP for allowing its use in the school system with his first question in the legislature as Conservative party leader almost exactly a year ago.
Johnston and other educators insist the resource has made the school system safer for students, particularly those in the 2SLGBTQ+ communities.
“So the idea of dismantling pieces like that – the SOGI piece – that have really made every student feel comfortable in the school and feel safe and supported, that could be really damaging toward a great system right now,” Johnston said Friday.
The Greens have pledged to support SOGI moving forward, and have also released detailed plans on other education initiatives.
That includes a plan to spend $110-million a year to provide laptops to all students in the kindergarten to Grade 12 system.
As for the BC NDP, its major campaign pledges on the education file are to ensure that every school in the province has a counsellor, and that there is an education assistant in all kindergarten to Grade 3 classrooms.
- Full coverage: B.C. election 2024
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump will nominate Matt Gaetz as attorney general, Tulsi Gabbard as national security director
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will nominate Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as his attorney general, putting a loyalist in the role of the nation's top prosecutor.
The Canadian border is an 'extreme vulnerability,' says Trump's pick; Miller predicts 'tough' talks
Immigration Minister Marc Miller says he agrees with the incoming American border czar that there will be 'tough conversations' ahead.
Dave Coulier, 'Full House' star, has cancer
Dave Coulier, an actor and comedian who found fame as Uncle Joey on "Full House," has revealed he has been diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer.
Overwhelmed families surrendering custody of their children to CAS
Overwhelmed families in Ontario are having to surrender their children to the Children's Aid Society, and according to the society, the residential crisis is part of the problem.
BREAKING Republicans will retain House majority, CNN projects, completing GOP’s dominance of Washington
Republicans have secured their monopoly on power in Donald Trump’s new Washington, retaining their majority in the House of Representatives, CNN projected Wednesday, after picking up seats in California and Arizona and ushering in a dramatic new era of right-wing populist rule.
Guns and drugs seized from organized crime group linked to Mexican cartel, RCMP say
Members of the RCMP’s federal police say they have arrested three men in B.C. for their alleged role in a “transnational organized crime group” connected to Mexican drug cartels plotting to import cocaine into Canada.
Testing confirms B.C. teen infected with Canada's first human case of avian flu
Federal health officials have confirmed that a B.C. teen who is currently in hospital has Canada's first human case of H5N1 avian flu.
This Canadian airline will adopt Apple's new AirTag feature to help recover lost baggage. Here's how
Apple announced that a new feature, 'Share Item Location,' will help users locate and recover misplaced items by sharing an AirTag location with third parties including airlines.
'You couldn't open the door': Concerns over awareness of and access to Tesla emergency latch after 4 killed in Toronto, 5 killed in Wisconsin
When a Tesla crashed on Lakeshore Boulevard in Toronto last month, the first people on scene knew there were occupants inside but couldn't immediately get them out.