Are BC Liberals afraid of teachers???

The BC Liberals have been been planning some expensive fundraising dinners so a group of teachers decided that they would like to attend to try to get some people to listen to their concerns about BC education.  They bought tickets to a fundraiser with MLA Doug Bing and special guests,  and this is what happened!  I am quoting teacher, Melanie Harris,

"Well, friends, the BC Liberals did not disappoint. This morning, our $1000 was refunded and our table at Doug Bing’s fundraiser tonight was returned to the Riding Association. They won’t let us in.

Our decision to attend tonight’s event as guests came about after much conversation between friends and colleagues about how we could have a more impactful effect on our current leaders at a local and provincial level. The rallies have been great. The MLA meetings have been… informative. The letters have been powerful. But we needed to change our game.

We decided we needed to make this more personal. We needed to step away from fiscal frameworks and balanced budgets. We needed to stop talking numbers and statistics and start talking people. We needed to stop working against the government because it wasn’t working. We booked a table at Bing’s fundraiser so that we could connect with our community leaders and their supporters on their turf, not in an adversarial way but as intelligent, respectful professionals who wanted to work collaboratively with our leaders to enact positive change. Buuuut, true to form, they aren’t interested.

On Wednesday, Bing’s assistant contacted the person who purchased our table and asked him for the names of all his guests. She wanted to make sure there were no teachers attending, for security reasons. (Yes, we are dangerous. The pen is mightier than the sword, etc. etc.) Yesterday, he provided our names and shortly after we were advised that our donation would be refunded. This morning, it was.

Ours was a valiant effort, friends, but in keeping with the current trend of investments and returns, we seem to have put in more than we’re getting out. Thank you to all who supported us in our effort to change the tone of conversation around issues in education and other social services. Collaboration and networking won’t begin tonight, as planned, but the gig isn’t up. We remain committed to keeping the conversation alive and welcome you all to join us."