'Over my dead body': Dale Kirby says he won't cut more teaching positions
'I could not possibly continue to do this job if there are any reductions,' N.L. education minister says
On the same day that the Newfoundland and Labrador government announced the elimination of nearly 300 jobs, the minister of education said he "would not stand for" any further cuts to teaching positions in the province.
"Over my dead body," said Dale Kirby.
"I've said since the budget last year, that we cannot take any more teachers out of classrooms."
Kirby made the comments in an interview on Wednesday, after the announcement from Premier Dwight Ball and Finance Minister Cathy Bennett that management jobs are being cut to create a "flatter, leaner" civil service.
Contract negotiations with public service unions, including the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association, will happen this year, but government would not comment Wednesday on targets for reducing those jobs.
Previous cuts
With the government looking to save $200 million to reduce a burgeoning deficit, it could be challenging to protect departments such as education and health, which account for significant spending.
However, Kirby said there were already significant reductions in education spending in 2013, and again in 2016 — when 73 teaching positions were cut, he said.
According to Kirby, the province has already taken all that it can out of education.
"I could not possibly continue to do this job if there are any reductions in teachers in this province," he told CBC News.
"We would be causing damage and I would not stand for it. And I trust that the premier would not stand for it."
Resignation?
When pressed if that meant he would resign, Kirby said no.
I'm just saying that I couldn't be the person who would reduce those [teacher] allocations any further.- Dale Kirby, minister of education
"I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that I couldn't be the person who would reduce those allocations any further," he said.
"It's stripped back now to the point where there's nothing left to take, short of going in and taking some of the furniture out of there."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Anthony Germain