It occurs to me, and you’ve said it before yourself, Matt, that the ATA is contributing to screwing over the younger generation of teachers by holding on to their jobs with revolutionary fervor and pushing the wages up in the face of the flat-out _certainty_ that the money won’t come from the government, thus serving only to punish people who are new to the profession.

That being said, of course, there is no reason to maintain the current level of funding when there is as much money in the bank as we have. I hope that the long push to pay off the debt has not caused the government to forget which notches of the belt they tightened. It is promising, although subtly, that the government is beginning to acknowledge that post-secondary education has different needs than the primary system, and has actually made them two portfolios.

At any rate, good luck. I know you don’t wish being cut upon anyone, but I, for one, do not want to see you get the axe. In a true meritocratic system, you would not. (See previous comments about ATA)

Now, the good news is that I just heard Ralph Klein and his buddies saying that it is their goal to build the strongest education system in the world in Alberta. That seems like a really odd statement to be coming from those characters, but it’s encouraging none-the-less.

Here’s hoping for the best!