BC Politics and Education

BC Politics and Education

More and more BC schools are signing deals with corporate interests to make up for funding short falls due to the Campbell Liberal cutbacks. "Public Education, Not for Sale" is a conference on the issue of privatisation and commercialisation taking place in Vancouver today and tomorrow. Did you know about it? Chances are you did not. Canwest which owns three of Vancouver's daily papers and Global TV did not tell you. Global and Canwest are financial contributers to the BC Liberals. More on that on another day.

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a survey today with the BCTF indicating that more than 60 per cent of BC Schools that responded have exclusive contracts with either Coke or Pepsi.

BCTF President Jinny Simms stated, "we're finding the commercialization of schools has really got to an unacceptable level, and we're also looking at why boards are doing this, and in almost all cases it's due to underfunding."

James Wanless is one of the founders of School Ads Alert, told CBC radio today that while pop companies are starting to offer healthier alternatives – "commercialization should not be allowed in schools, the exclusive deals don't give students the right to make choices as consumers."

"As soon as they don't have a choice in products, what ends up happening is a company like Coke or Pepsi builds brand awareness and customer loyalty when kids are very young," says Wanless.

Corporate involvement and or advertising has become a major concern across North America, you can review some of the background material here.