Candidates in the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows riding clashed Thursday evening, Oct. 3, during an all-candidates meeting with a focus on education.
Conservative Party of BC candidate Mike Morden and incumbent BC NDP candidate Lisa Beare went head-to-head at the Riverside Centre, answering six questions about: funding for B.C.'s public schools, recruiting and retaining teachers and education support workers, how to make sure students are in safe structures, supporting Indigenous students, and protecting programs like Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity ( SOGI).
Morden started by telling a handful of people who attended that five of his immediate family members are teachers. Beare reminded those who attended she began her career as a school board trustee, first elected in 2014.
When asked what will each candidate do to increase funding for public schools, Beare defended her government's record. She claimed the BC NDP government had increased spending year over year since they were elected in 2017. An increase of more than 40 per cent, she said.
Not only did they invest in schools, she added, but in programs like before-and-after school care, post secondary student housing – programs that didn't exist before the BC NDP formed government.
"So not only are we increasing public education funding, but we are increasing and creating new programs surrounding it as well," she said.
Morden noted things that concern him about the system are PACs fundraising and paying for materials needed at schools out of pocket, in addition to students going hungry.
"Those are the things that need to change," he said.
Morden maintained that money currently being paid to service the provincial debt could be put to better use.
"If we are spending $15 million a day servicing debt that's money that could be apportioned to propping up a social safety net that is in serious trouble. Health-care workers, teachers, special education. These are important things. These are our kids. They are the future," he said.
He also noted his party wants to keep students, when they finish school, in the province with his party's rental rebate.
The candidates were then asked about how they would recruit and retain teachers and education support workers.
Morden asserted teachers need more support, especially with the numbers of special needs children in the classrooms.
"I think that's something that's missing right now in the education system," he said. "The teachers could certainly use a lot more support around them when they are having to deal with five or seven special needs kids," he said.
Special needs children need special support teachers, he said, adding there shouldn't be any question about this.
Beare countered that there is a disconnect between what Morden was saying and BC Conservative leader John Rustad. She said that Rustad is planning to increase class sizes by 20 per cent and that he was part of the BC Liberal government who, she said, fought teachers on class sizes all the way to the Supreme Court of BC.
"That's not supporting teachers," she said.
• Stay tuned for more from this and other all-candidates meetings
