Bowing to pressure

Green Party leader says adding teachers wasn’t planned

Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker says the P.E.I. government bowed to pressure in announcing the 27 new teaching positions last week.

Bevan-Baker spoke at a rally on Monday where about 50 students and parents gathered in front of the Public Schools Branch office to protest the recent teacher allocation.

Premier Wade MacLauchlan announced Friday his government was adding 27 new teaching positions (25 English, two French) to schools across Prince Edward Island.

At the time, MacLauchlan dismissed any suggestion the decision was in response to pressure, stressing that it is part of the normal staffing process followed every year.

While Bevan-Baker welcomes the announcement, he said the creation of the new positions was clearly unplanned.

“We passed (a budget) in the legislature less than a month ago, (and) there was no line item for 27 new people in the education department, so there goes your façade of a balanced budget right there.’’

However, the Green Party leader found a silver lining in even that.

“If there is one good reason not to balance a budget it’s to provide the best education that we possibly can for Island children.’’

Opposition MLA Steven Myers said the fight over allocation seems like déjà vu.

“A number of people here (at Monday’s rally) have spent the whole winter pushing back against this government and their ill-advised plans to close schools and here we are back again to talk about teachers,’’ Myers said.