Vince Ready has declined to mediate the dispute between the B.C. government and the province’s teachers’ union.

Ready’s reason for declining both sides’ request to work as a mediator is simply that he is too busy.

Ready has been working in mediation for more than 30 years and has worked on more than 7,000 labour and commercial disputes in Canada.

The BCTF had said Ready was the only hope for a timely solution, and on Friday the provincial government agreed to accept Ready as mediator.