According to an article in the Province Tuesday, Premier Christy Clark is not impressed with two Burnaby families whose 11-year-old daughters crossed police lines to protest the Kinder Morgan pipeline on Burnaby Mountain. “They’re 11 years old for heaven’s sakes,” Clark was quoted as saying. “Teaching your kids to break the law when they’re 11 years old is not OK. I think we all as parents would ask ourselves, what kind of message are we sending to our kids?”
Clark, who once ran a red light with her son and a reporter in the car, has an excellent point. Should parents really be teaching their kids that civil disobedience and peaceful demonstrations have merit? Everyone knows that kids should only take part in political causes when it’s to help elect their mother as premier.
We’re not saying Clark’s son Hamish was instrumental in getting her elected, but his appearances on the campaign trail or photo ops at his hockey practices sure seemed like a tacit reminder to voters of Clark’s maternal qualities while she campaigned on a so-called “Families First Agenda” (despite the fact that B.C.’s child poverty rate remains one of the worst in the country and that the public school system has been in a tailspin since the introduction of Bill 28 when a certain someone was education minister).
In case you don’t remember, the 2002 legislation effectively removed the right of teachers to bargain for smaller classes with more student supports and, spoiler alert, was deemed unconstitutional in 2011 by the B.C. Supreme Court.
Good thing Clark’s kid goes to private school and isn’t poor, or he might feel inclined to voice his concerns and protest.
