Dear Editor:
I have a pile of student writing that I should be editing and marking tonight, however, because of the lock out order issued to teachers, I cannot mark in the evening.
Instead, I thought I’d wonder about some numbers.
Whenever I hear a number stated as a payment I will have to make, my ears perk up.
B.C. government negotiator, Peter Cameron declared that teachers’ “demands” would cost every B.C. citizen $1,100.
I surmise that this calculation is based on the fallacy that every dollar that the B.C. government collects is out of your pocket and mine.
B.C.’s total revenue (from the B.C. Government website) is $43.95 billion. B.C.’s population is 4,400,057.
Doing division, taught to me by my primary teachers in public school, I arrive at a figure of $9,988.51 per person.
Since I have a family of four, this equals $39,954.04
But my family, with two incomes (both incredibly overpaid B.C. teachers), does not pay $40,000 in taxes to all levels of government combined.
B.C. Liberals spent $66 million out of the Ministry of Children and Family Development budget on nothing according to the representative for children and youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond.
They spent more than $6 million on Basi and Virk’s legal fees.
They spent $514 million on the B.C. Place roof.
They continue to spend money appealing a court verdict which they’ve lost twice. This list is not complete.
The government is trying to scare you into thinking your taxes will skyrocket if you pay teachers fairly.
They are spinning the numbers to scare people.
Kevin J. Epp
Penticton