Opposition backs Ramona’s removal
Posted Apr 13, 2012 07:30:54 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Provincial opposition leaders say they support the calls for Ramona Jennex’s removal from her role as Minister of Education.
The Nova Scotia Teacher’s Union (NSTU) has publicly asked for the minister to step down because of her handling of the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board controversy.
In response to a 1.3 per cent budget cut, the board announced it would be eliminating all of its 41 librarian positions.
Jennex said the positions should be maintained because $3.8 million of the board’s budget is earmarked for libraries. She has now appointed Doug Stewart, a senior Treasury Board advisor to review the board’s draft budget and find alternative savings.
Premier Darrell Dexter says he has no plans to replace the minister.
“There’s nobody in this province that has been more committed to ensuring that change takes place in the system and that kids benefit from that change,” he said in the legislature Thursday.
Dexter says if anyone is neglecting students’ best interests, it’s the NSTU.
“The simple fact of the matter is that the teacher’s union has now continued to demonstrate that they’re not really interested in any change in the eduction system; that they’re only going to defend the status quo,” he said.
But Progressive Conservative leader Jamie Baillie said the minister’s removal would be the first step towards positive change.
“I agree with the NSTU about the minister,” he said. “But I actually believe the whole government needs to be replaced and I know this will be an issue when the next election comes around.”
Liberal leader Stephen McNeil was also critical of the minister’s actions.
“We’re hearing that the cuts that her department is doing are going to impact the classroom and that she has no idea what’s happening there,” he said. “We have felt all along, quite frankly, that this minister had not been leading the charge here.”
Jennex herself has fervently defended her role as minister, citing her 30 years of experience as a teacher and her passion for defending students’ and teachers’ needs.
