Election over, but scars remain
The recent provincial election was clearly a battle between public unions and the government, with health care being the defining issue.
For decades, it was thought to oppose the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union (NSTU) would mean a certain defeat for government. Obviously, that isn’t true. Despite the collaboration of the province’s most powerful public unions and the two most influential public professions (education and medical), the Liberals still maintained a three-seat majority.
Locally, it looked like there was a deal among unions to swing Tory support to the NDP in New Waterford and NDP support to the Tories in Glace Bay.
Hopefully, the provincial government finally got the message about the state of health care in Cape Breton, will reinstate the local health authority and listen to what the people are saying. When did the mainland ever care about Cape Breton? Our Liberal MLAs are positioned to demand better health care for the people of this island. If they don’t deliver, it could be the end their political careers.
Karen Casey won’t be education minister in the new cabinet and that might feel like a moral victory for the NSTU. But she delivered what could become the blueprint for educational change in this province.
I believe that was Casey’s goal when she crossed the floor in 2011. She wanted to finish what she had started as Tory education minister. Liberal leader Stephen McNeil gave her that opportunity and she delivered a new direction for early childhood education, with funding, and the council for classroom improvement, the only time I can recall classroom teachers being given a vehicle to directly affect change in the education system, with funding.
Casey also initiated discussions to establish a committee to study and deliver a new and desperately needed inclusion model.
Where are the negatives? Our education system is a chaotic mess and didn’t need another Mr./Ms. Congeniality passing through. It needed a tenacious bulldog in the front yard. Hopefully, whoever replaces Casey will continue those changes, especially delivering the new inclusive education model, but with a little more congeniality.
What has the NSTU done to improve classroom conditions? If any of those changes don’t happen, it will be a reflection of their lack of cooperation, which has been an embarrassment throughout the entire process, and they now have no more cards left to play.
There is an old political saying: before you try to overthrow government, make sure you can win. If the NSTU is considering another work-to-rule campaign, it should realize that a couple of provinces have recently lengthened their school year. New Brunswick now has the longest school year in this country. There is nothing preventing this government from doing the same and it would be very popular with parents. After the recent election campaign, I doubt government would shed any tears in doing so.
The work-to-rule campaign broke the mould but produced nothing positive. It seriously damaged relationships with students, community groups, and parents, many of whom have told me they wouldn’t speak out publicly because they fear their children would be targeted. That’s hardly sounds like a high degree of public trust or respect for the school system.
Hopefully, most of that public anger and mistrust will dissipate over the summer, and 2017-18 will be a fence-mending, bridge-building year for education.
Al Moore Glace Bay