With the teachers' contract up more than seven months ago and the Liberal government having promised hundreds of millions of dollars to help needy students, I can suggest to all the people who keep wondering why the Liberals don't impose a contract on the teachers why they haven't. It's all about the hundreds of millions they have promised to special needs, class composition, etc. Do the math. The numbers are shocking.

As long as the Liberals don't "create" a contract with the teachers, they get to keep those hundreds of promised millions in their bank, spend it all around the province on what they want, at will, without a mandate from the electorate, and gain great election brownie points at the same time. It is criminal that the neediest students are being denied all this help because of bad politics.

To help pressure the Liberals to resolve this matter or call an election, I would ask everyone possible to stop helping schools work as if they are not on strike. Parents can play the wild card in this matter by not doing anything that teachers used to do and by lobbying government to stop this war on teachers that is leaving the needy students as the casualties. Wages for teachers are not an issue anymore. They should equal all other public employee wage increases: zero.

The issue is one of government working or wasting time just to collect their own wages and pensions - maybe in fear of an election.

Steve Mancinelli Coquitlam