THE BATTLEFORDS — A recent Saskatchewan radio station's candid discussion between a radio announcer and Saskatchewan's Minister of Education, Jeremy Cockrill, has raised the ire of members of the public alongside the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF).
The eight-minute spot, which Cockrill says was paid for through his constituency office, was billed as an interview that would ask questions, 'flat out,' and ran on air and on CJNB's website at approximately 8:50 a.m., Feb. 16.
"Okay, the elephant in the room. The first question I'm going to ask you and don't expect any softballs here. Your favourite NHL team, there's only one wrong answer," Grant Schutte, an announcer with the station in North Battleford said to begin the interview.
Minister Cockrill said it was probably the Vancouver Canucks.
Going on to ask about the recent pause in negotiations between the STF and the Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee (GTBC), he asked what happened there, to which Cockrill said the result last week was disappointing.
"And we were clear, though, Grant, last week, that class size complexity, were not going to be a part of those discussions, the STF leadership still agreed to come back to the table and discuss salary as well as a number of other items there," Cockrill said.
"You know, unfortunately, we started the meeting at one o'clock the mutually agreed upon time, and by 1:30, the union leadership had left the room and said that they were not able to discuss any issues until class size and complexity were discussed," he added.
"Even though they already knew that you weren't going to discuss them, they showed up to see if they, whatever," Schutte said.
Cockrill and Schutte went on to discuss the difficulty of balancing the needs of teachers while being fair to taxpayers or that the province has 'never, ever, ever dilly-dallied' with class sizes, and complexity.
"Everybody hears secondhand stories about, you know, teachers, 'Oh, I've had 50-some kids in my classroom or this, that and the other thing.' Well, the teachers didn't draft the kids, the school board or the school said, 'Well, this is how many kids you have' ... right?" Schutte said, adding later that, "Here's the deal ... I think teachers are fantastic ... I think they do a tremendous job worth every penny and more," he said, to which Cockrill agreed.
"See, we should negotiate ... but it comes down to the [school] board's going, 'well, you know what, maybe we just can't do that,'" he said, adding that classrooms weren't so complex when he was younger.
Cockrill then noted that a new pilot project would help classroom and complexity but that it should be the purview of the school division, not union leadership.
"Well, I hope things work out. And I mean ... everybody gets a temper, and everybody gets volatile, if everybody just steps back and just takes a deep breath and goes, 'Okay, well, maybe we can't do this at this time. We can do it next time. Or maybe we should look at someplace else to point the blame.' We should be able to move on," Schutte added.
"I think we can both agree that teachers are not the problem," he added.
Though later, the station would note that the interview was 'promotional' in nature and the story online would later be updated to note that the interview was a paid-for advertisement, some residents felt that the spot wasn't clearly stated from the start.
"Disappointing on so many levels!!! First, a paid interview by the government. Second, CJNB participating in a farce that is portrayed as a journalist interview," one Facebook commenter wrote.
Online, however, one Pattison Media staff noted that the article was not news and that Schutte is not a journalist but an on-air personality who conducted an interview.
"Started listening and then shut it off within the first two minutes as the lies started spewing from Mr. Cockrill's mouth. So disappointed that the radio station would get involved in this," another commenter said.
Some commenters have noted that the CRTC's website notes that on commercial radio stations, an advertisement that's more than three minutes long must be identified as a paid commercial, by clear and prominent announcements, before and after the segments.
President of the STF, Samantha Becotte, said in a phone interview with SASKTODAY.ca/The News-Optimist, that she felt the radio interview was another example of how the government would try to undercut teachers.
Becotte added that statistics saying teachers are paid above the Canadian Western Average was cherry-picked and that she's saddened to see the current state of funding and its effects on teachers, schools and students.
Becotte also noted she wants to be fair to taxpayers, but that the Saskatchewan Government has been underfunding the education system for years. To read the full story explaining both the government's and the STF's explanations regarding the breakdown of negotiations, visit John Cairn's story here.
When Minister Cockrill was asked to comment on the interview, asked if he was comfortable doing that interview the same day a strike was ongoing across from his office, and the cost of the promotional interview, he said,
"Through my constituency office, we advertise with several media outlets in the Battlefords and area (including frequently in the News-Optimist) to communicate government initiatives and responses to various issues," he said.
CJNB's General Manager Karl Johnston was unavailable for comment before the publication deadline.
Note: Ads in the News-Optimist differ from news content written by the editorial staff.
