Dear Editor,
I have always found it utterly amazing that people can allow themselves to be hoodwinked into voting against their own best interests by slick, duplicitous politicians, and this is particularly relevant when it comes to those parents of school-aged children who naively voted for the Liberals in the last election.
This government’s massive cutbacks in public educational funding while increasing support for private schools, which among other things could lead to cuts in special needs programs in Richmond, is indicative of a cynical, self-serving philosophy of governance that shows little if any concern for the welfare and futures of our most valuable, but vulnerable resource: our children.
History provides clear evidence that when a society denies one or two generations of school children the best possible kinds of education and resources, those children not only suffer the consequences of that deprivation later in life, but society as a whole is destined to pay a heavy price over several subsequent decades for having an under-educated citizenry.
Christy Clark, whose son happens to attend a private school, continues to reveal herself to be nothing more than a typical politician – one whose radar screen is only calibrated to account for the short-range goal of being re-elected rather than a wider-ranging projection of what might be best over the long-term for the citizens of this province, and its public-school students in particular.
When it comes to politicians claiming they care about the futures of our children, all I can say to those parents who voted for this government: “Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, give me a clown suit”.
Ray Arnold
Richmond
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