Last week the B.C. government quietly put forward a bill in the legislature they described as "enabling legislation."
Bill 11 grants unprecedented powers to the Minister of Education to direct locally elected school boards to carry out his wishes on a wide variety of issues. The bill allows for no review or appeals process and grants the minister nearly unfettered power to remove elected school boards and appoint his own appointee to carry out his wishes.
Here in Prince George we recently had a municipal election in which our local school board trustees received over 20,000 votes to elect them to office. With the powers granted to the minister in Bill 11, Minister Fassbender will now have the power to void the votes of thousands of citizens and remove that democratically elected board with no process in place to call the minister to account. If you think it is a small matter to disenfranchise thousands of citizens then you have very little understanding of the sacrifices that Canadians have made in the past to ensure that we live in a democracy.
Bill 11 is not yet law. Our local MLAs will soon be voting to remove our rights by voting in favour of the bill. As cabinet members you can bet that MLAs Bond and Rustad will be choosing the government bill over your right to have a voice in our democracy. As a backbencher, MLA Morris is unlikely to vote against the bill and in favour of your right to vote. If our three representatives vote to void your rights it is time to use our remaining vote to protect what franchise remains next provincial election.
Susan Trabant
Prince George
