From:
PGZ
Sent:
Thursday, February 16, 2017 10:14 AM
Office of the Legislative Counsel
Bill 75
To:
Subject:
Good morning,
I'm writing today to express my disgust at the actions being taken by the Nova Scotia Liberal Government to
strip teachers of their collective bargaining rights and the absolute mockery they've made of our democratic
system.
I'm a disabled Nova Scotian with both physical and learning disabilities. I graduated from high school in 1987.
Class sizes were an emergency then. I wrote some of my exams sitting on the cold floor. One of the disabilities
I have comes from the scoliosis I have. Sitting on the floor because there was no desk was painful and
humiliating.
There was a lot of pain and humiliation for me in school. When you're different there's not a lot of mercy. The
only MLA to speak about kids who are like me with any compassion has been Andrew Younger. We're seen as
violent burdens. Statistically disabled people are far and away the victims of abuse. Listen to Andrew.
The inclusion model in this province is broken. Has been for a long time. That's because each government takes
more and more and expects the same results. And because society often leaves those of us most pertinent to the
conversation, out of it. But it's the right of every child to get a good education. The government is failing at
that.
Any committee on inclusion must have disabled people on it. Failure to do so will result in failure of the
committee. I promise you this.
I've watched the current liberal government in this province do a lot of bad things. I'm the spouse of a film
worker. Our family ended up separated, our credit is destroyed, my seizures came back from the stress. The
province lost a 1/4 of that work force to other provinces.
A week after the tax credit was cut the government gave out a million dollars in grants to grow more grapes to
make more wine. I find that, well, insulting. Nova Scotia - are we about good educations, decent paying jobs, a
good quality of life - or are we really just the drunks that so many see us as? Sadly it's more option 2.
I don't have any faith in this government. It lies, mismanages money, goes back on its word and now wants to
strip the teachers of their collective bargaining rights. That's not a democratic government, that's a dictatorship.
I fully support the teachers. You're making a massive mistake. I'll be outside province house to protest while a
shred of democracy remains.
Regards,
Patricia George-Zwicker
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