John Cummins: "All we need to do to secure a better future is to believe in ourselves"

John Cummins, leader of the BC Conservatives, today released his party's Alternative Throne Speech (2013) which features the theme of 'We believe in B.C.' 

"The BC Conservatives have a positive, optimistic view of British Columbia," said Cummins. "We believe our future has the potential to be better than our past, but there are significant challenges that must be overcome if we are to take full advantage of our many opportunities."

The BC Conservatives' Alternative Throne Speech, 2013, pointed out that B.C. not long ago led the country in terms of average-weekly earnings, but today has sunk to fifth place.

In gross domestic product per capita, B.C. similarly has fallen to fifth in Canada. In fact, British Columbia's GDP per capita is nearly $2,000 behind the national average. 

Labour income - which is the sum of all wages and salaries paid to B.C. workers - is approximately $10.8 billion less than it was two decades ago.

Once a population magnet that drew workers and families from across the country to the Pacific coast, B.C. over the last year-and-a-half has been suffering net losses from interprovincial migration.

B.C. used to be a high-wage province, but that hasn't been the case in recent decades.

How to turn around the province? The BC Conservatives' Alternative Throne Speech, 2013, outlined a number of areas that the party would focus on, including specific policies to assist rural and northern B.C., resource development, fair taxation (including repeal of the carbon tax), balanced budgets, safer communities, skills training and apprenticeships, transportation and agriculture. 

"All we need to do to secure a better future is to believe in ourselves," said Cummins. "The BC Conservatives believe in BC"

To read the full BC Conservative plan ... showing how We Believe in BC ... CLICK HERE

There is no magic pot of money to pay for any wage increases --- so what is this strike really all about?

THE BC Federationist, in a release to members, says:

For salary and benefits — teachers want to “keep up” and “catch up.” What do we mean by that? We want to keep up with inflation ... unfortunately; the government’s position has and continues to be “net zero.” The government claims that taxpayers cannot afford increases to public sector wages and that wages must remain flat because the government is running a deficit.

Well that really does sound reasonable, doesn’t it?  Yet it is simplistic in that the BC Teachers Federation (BCTF) fail to acknowledge that an increase in wages for teachers means an increase to ALL public sector employees that HAVE already negotiated "Net Zero" contracts.

Taxpayers -- which includes teachers and all other government workers, have to understand that means there would be an increase in fees and taxes, to pay for ANY wage or salary increase for teachers!  There is ONLY one source of revenue for the government, so how do they plan to see wage increases paid for otherwise?

The truth is the BC Federation of Labour, and the BCTF, don't care.  The hierarchy of government unions want wage increases for all members, and they are using the teachers to try and force that.