1. Once again a stupid public remark by a BCTF leader puts teachers in a bad light. And yet
we continue to allow these clowns to represent us.
I would like to provide a real life example why the general public has so little respect for
the leadership of our union.
I am a Twitter user. I follow a number of people who are in positions of responsibility
within the BC Educational community. In this fashion I hope to be able to view
educational issues from all sides. My Twitter community includes people as diverse as
our own local NVTA Vice-President Chris Miller, WVan Superintendent Chris Kennedy,
Seycove Librarian Bryan Hughes, Chris Harris President of the Vancouver Elementary
School Teachers Ass’n and George Abbott BC Minister of Education.
Over the last couple of days the Minister of Education Abbott has been visiting Districts
and Schools on the North Coast including Haida Gwaii. His Tweets have included
reports of visits to Masset Secondary School and another elementary school in Queen
Charlotte City. Most of us would agree that such visitations are important parts of a
Minister’s duties. We, as educators, would be the first to chastise any Minister who
stayed cloistered in Victoria. We would also expect elected officials to keep us abreast of
what they are up to.
On Tuesday night I received a Tweet from George Abbott announcing that he was having
a turkey dinner with the Prince Rupert Board of Education. (Hardly a political statement)
That Tweet can be accessed by clicking of the Twitpic link below. In response to
Abbott’s message the following message was posted by Chris Harris.
ChrisHarrisBC Chris Harris
This a punchline? "@georgeabbottbc: Enjoying a turkey dinner with the Prince
Rupert Board of Education #bced #bcpoli twitpic.com/6o0mxy"
(please note that this is a verbatim copy of Harris’ message)
Now Chris is no ordinary Tom, Dick or Harry making flip comments about remarks
made by the Minister of Education. He is the President of the Vancouver Elementary
School Teachers Association. This just happens to be the second largest BCTF local in
the Province. As a President of a BCTF local, Chris should recognize that what he says
not only represents his personal opinion but reflects on every other teacher in the
Province. He is one of our leaders.
I suppose the response “This is a punchline?” was meant to be comical but it displays an
ideological perspective such that nothing that a Liberal minister does is worthy of
supportive comment. It also reflects an immaturity or lack of understanding of the role of
President of the Local Union. I would expect classroom teachers to be less than fully
aware of the impact that their public statements can have but a Local Union President

2. should measure his or her words carefully when making public comment. Chris Harris
may not understand it but his comment shows a profound disrespect for the Minister of
Education that does none of us any good. As a private individual Chris Harris has every
right to think and say what he wants but on a Twitter account where he identifies himself
as the President of VESTA such comments are counter productive. It makes him and by
association the rest of us look small minded and petty.
We must remember as well that this comment is made in the midst of collective
bargaining where 41 000 BCTF members are on strike. I would think the last thing we
wanted to do would be to further alienate a Minister who, as reported by the BCTF, has
been amenable to ramping down the traditional anti-teacher rhetoric of past Liberal
Ministers of Education. This is the very same Minister who had a warm welcome at last
Spring’s BCTF AGM and was lauded by President Lambert as being a breath of fresh air
in the educational dialogue.
Our leaders need to learn that when they speak they represent all of us. Their days of
snappy ideological retorts need to be put behind them.