The Editor,
Re. "Opinion: Christy Clark deleted her controversial COVID-19 tweet" (Opinion, tricitynews.com, March 28).
I was just reading Bob Kronbauer's opinion piece about former premier Christy Clark's now-deleted tweet, in which she wrote that the COVID-19 response money must be spent in order to save lives but complained that the federal and provincial governments "blew the doors off spending in the good years."
Good for MLA Bowinn Ma (North Vancouver-Lonsdale) for calling her out on this. The Christy Clark government, and indeed Gordon Campbell's government before it, went after the unions, cutting wages, imposing larger class sizes, etc. They cut back wherever they could to save money all the while taking money from the coffers at ICBC and BC Hydro to make ends meet.
Some spread of the novel coronavirus is due to staff working at different care homes. But what the general public needs to understand is that a lot of care aides, registered nurses and licensed practical nurses very often work at different facilities. Why? Because they can’t get enough hours where they work to make full-time wages. They may be casual or part-time and just don’t get enough shifts where they work.
Another issue is the pay. Some for-profit care homes can pay up to $6 less an hour than a non-profit facility. The latter are usually union jobs; they pay well and their staffs are well trained. Think about that the next time people want to complain about unions.
Michelle Clayton, Coquitlam
