Another staged cabinet meeting was held on the morning of September 29th, the first since June 30th. In his book of election promises, Gordon Campbell said he would hold monthly "open cabinet" meetings. The staged events are nothing but expensive news briefings where questions from the media are not allowed; they are two to three hour sessions where differences of opinion between ministers are never heard.

The only item billed as "for decision" on Wednesday's agenda was a proposal by Tom Christensen, Minister of Education, to increase literacy by offering every three year old in the province a book. School Districts will receive $2,500, and the handouts, for every elementary school that agrees to participate in an open house to familiarize parents and their three year olds with the school and to handout the books and information packets. Christensen announced that the program would begin in mid-November. It calls for a stretch of the imagination to believe that the lead time for implementing the program, ordering the books and printing the materials is so short that cabinet was really making the decision in the staged meeting. Hopefully, the initiative will ultimately improve literacy. Maybe the Premier will learn that 91 days between meetings is not monthly and that "open" doesn't mean a transparent sham.

It is tempting to question the government's sincerity with respect to its outreach program for three year olds. Under the Campbell government's education policies, school libraries have had reduced hours or have had to close; teacher-librarians have been laid off; the number of educators has been reduced by 2,585 as class sizes increase. The Campbell government promised three year funding envelopes for school districts coupled with the ability for school districts to decide how the money is spent. In the past year, a series of announcements have been made, from money for textbooks to money for computers, all of which target funds and limit the decision making of school boards. Optimists might see the program for three year olds as the first step towards recognizing the kind of educational programs offered in France where three year olds attend public school. Those familiar with the ways of the Campbell government might be more inclined to see the program designed for kickoff in November as another pre-election stunt. The truth will have to wait for careful program evaluation several years from now.