Incompetence or Worse? The Case of the Conservatives’ Education Platform

Voters worried the BC Conservatives’ plan to implement a secret, extreme agenda if they win the election had their fears stoked this weekend.

As did voters who worry the party is incompetent and not remotely ready to govern.

Leader John Rustad released the party’s education platform mid-afternoon Sunday — and then again a few hours later, with some big changes.

The first version included a promise that could dramatically limit students’ learning.

Rustad said he would “remove classroom material that instills guilt based on ethnicity, nationality or religion, focusing instead on uplifting students and helping them thrive.”

Which could mean schools couldn’t teach about residential schools, or about the internment of 22,000 Japanese Canadians during the Second World War, for fear that non-Indigenous and non-Japanese students might feel guilty.

Or, I suppose, the Holocaust, since that might make students of German ancestry feel “guilt based on ethnicity, nationality or religion.”

Like the Conservatives’ impossible promise to remove income tax on tips lifted from Donald Trump’s campaign, the platform pledge attempts to outdo extremist Republicans.

In this case Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. He signed what’s become known as the “Stop Woke Act” that bans schools from teaching anything that could make students “feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress” about their race.

The Conservative promise is pretty much a ripoff of the Florida law. It’s bad policy, based entirely on ideology rather than any evidence-based pedagogical approaches.

Then presto, a few hours later the Conservatives released a new version of their education platform.

The promise was gone, replaced by a much vaguer promise to “uplift all kids by ensuring the ideological neutrality of classroom materials, and that kids are made to feel proud about who they are. Education should be about uplifting students into their full potential.”

The second version changed other commitments.

The original version promised to “respect parental rights by ensuring that parents are informed of any significant ideations expressed by their child.” That changed to ensuring parents are informed of suicidal ideations noted by a teacher or counsellor. The original suggested school staff would be required to call parents if, for example, a student shared questions about their gender identity.

The email subject line for the first press release was “John Rustad Unveils ‘Learning-First Education’ Plan to Put BC’s Students Back on Top.”

The subject line for the second, revised education platform I received was “Backgrounder: Excellence in Education — a Learning-First Approach.”

Which seems an attempt to hide the reality that the party had sent out an education platform that it regretted within hours.

Rustad was asked about the duelling platforms Tuesday and blamed “somebody” who had grabbed an earlier version of the education commitments and sent them out. The leader said he and senior campaign officials weren’t around to supervise, what with the long weekend and all.

Which leaves voters with two explanations to consider.

First, the Conservatives actually back the original version and want to hide their position. That would be consistent with their promise to review textbooks to “remove ideology from the classroom.” And it would fit with the platform’s pledge to “replace SOGI 123 with zero-tolerance anti-bullying programs and supports.” SOGI — sexual orientation and gender identity — is not part of the B.C. curriculum, but is a resource available to schools and teachers. It aims to help students understand issues around gender and respect each other.

Or, second, that the party is incompetent and not ready to run a campaign, let alone form government.

Rustad’s explanation supports that position. A party’s education platform is important. Yet the Conservatives chose to release it on Thanksgiving Sunday less than a week before the election and, according to Rustad, without proper oversight. “Someone,” he claims, sent out the wrong one.

This from a party that didn’t release its full costed platform until Tuesday, less than a week before final voting day.

Seeing the Conservatives’ plan for record deficits might have been useful for the hundreds of thousand voters who have already cast their ballots in advance polls.

You can decide which explanation is correct. Incompetence, or an attempt to hide the party’s real agenda. Neither inspires confidence.

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