[Locke]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I'd hardly call 80k 'no benefit.' That fact is technical fields are under-represented in K-12 teachers. Jobs markets (where there is a genuine market) operate under the premise of people getting paid the minimum to attract qualified candidates. There's every reason to believe we could attract qualified teachers with less pay (virtually every other country in the world manages to), especially the ones with backgrounds that otherwise do not lead to high-paying work.

I know this kind of talk gets peoples' backs up. But we are going to face a public finance crisis in this country. It might not be for 15 years. It might not be for 20. But it's going to happen. Demographics are undermining the tax base, while the insatiable beast of health care devours bigger and bigger chunks of every budget in the country. Pension plans are based on investment returns that are looking wildly optimistic. We can either knuckle down and try to manage a soft landing, or we can wait until a crisis forces dire measures on us. Measures that will make 10-15 per cent reductions in the compensation of upper-middle-class public servants look like a picnic.

Quoted because I've been banging this drum for a while now and its been a primary concern of mine for a number of years and its gotten ramped up lately due to an NDP Government that is more interested in exacerbating the problem because it placates their support base.

We can do small changes now and try and slowly let the air out of this thing or its all going to explode in our faces.