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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, April 11, 2019
Volume 35 No. 15
VOLUNTEERS - Pg. 14
Brussels Legion highlighted
for National Volunteer Week
AWARD - Pg. 28
OCNA honours ‘Citizen’
for best rural story of ’18
SPORTS - Pg. 11
‘The Citizen’ celebrates its
local winter sports teams
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INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
Reforms finding support, despite protests: Thompson
Students walk out to protest education cuts
Huron-Bruce MPP and Minister of
Education Lisa Thompson feels that,
despite local and province-wide
protests, her recently-unveiled
education plan is finding traction
with parents, students and educators.
On Tuesday morning, The Citizen
spoke to Thompson in the wake of
province-wide walkouts by high
school students on Thursday and a
large protest at Queen’s Park,
organized by five unions
representing education workers.
Thompson, when asked about the
widespread protests, said that she
had recently reinforced her
commitment to quality education
and students spending their school
days learning through the recently
passed Bill 48, which received Royal
Assent on April 3. The bill, authored
by Thompson, is called the Safe and
Supportive Classrooms Act, which,
among other things, provides
amendments to existing education
law, adding support for therapy and
counselling of victims of sexual
abuse by teachers and implementing
mandatory math tests for future
teachers.
She said that the reforms to
education, like that bill, are based on
consultation with stakeholders,
which is why she says her education
plan, which was unveiled on March
15 for comment, has found support
from parents, students teachers and
principals for its focus on the
fundamentals and basics of
education.
“The consultation informed us so
well,” she said, referring to
consultation last fall for her
education plans. “That’s the way I
work. I listen and I consult. That’s
evident with the new curriculum and
people are happy.”
Thompson addressed specific
concerns raised by students at local
protests in Clinton and Wingham.
She said that, in terms of class sizes,
there is little concern as to how it
will impact education.
Class sizes won’t change for
Kindergarten to Grade 3, she said,
while the average class size of a
Grade 4 to 8 class will increase by
approximately one.
In high school, average class size
will increase by six, but Thompson
says that shouldn’t be a problem.
She said there are no studies to
suggest that increasing class sizes
will have a negative impact on
education. She cited fact checking
performed by the Canadian
Broadcasting Company (CBC) that
points to the quality of the educator
in a class as being the most
important decider of a quality
education. Thompson went on to say
that is why investment in teachers
are a priority under her plan.
Thompson also pointed out that
Ontario’s average high school class
size of 22 is lower than other
provinces in Canada. Examples
provided included Quebec with a
hard-cap class size of 32, and
Alberta, which has an average target
of 27.
In response to student claims of
Thompson not representing her
Over 200 secondary and
elementary students walked out of
F.E. Madill School on Thursday to
protest the provincial government
and its proposed cuts to the
education system under Huron-
Bruce MPP and Minister of
Education Lisa Thompson.
While Thompson saw students
from many schools walk out in her
home riding, the initiative was part
of a province-wide protest that saw
tens of thousands of students walk
out of hundreds of schools.
This was just the beginning, as
thousands of teachers, union
members, students and concerned
parents took to Queen’s Park on
Saturday to protest proposed cuts to
the education system.
On her Twitter account,
Thompson has said that while
enrolment across the province is
declining, costs are rising and
“academic quality” had been falling.
She said the reforms are all about
improving the lives of students.
“Our government is committed to
ensuring Ontario’s students become
world leaders in education once
again, and leave school with the
tools they need to get jobs, pay bills
and start families right here in
Ontario,” Thompson said on Twitter.
Reporting from the Toronto Star
has also uncovered documents that
suggest the government is planning
to eliminate nearly 3,500 teaching
jobs. Thompson has since addressed
that report, saying that positions
would be eliminated through
attrition, not refilling them when
teachers quit or retire.
Premier Doug Ford, Thompson’s
Huron County Council is
preparing its final budget for
approval on April 17. The budget
will include a 3.75 per cent levy
increase for a total of $41,690,656
across all county departments.
Council approved Treasurer
Michael Blumhagen’s draft budget
at its April 3 meeting with the
intention of bringing it back at next
week’s meeting for official adoption
by bylaw.
In his report to council,
Blumhagen said his department
faced significant pressures in
preparing the 2019 budget,
especially in the face of looming
provincial funding cuts, labour
pressures and upcoming
infrastructure costs.
The average impact on $100,000
of residential assessment will be a
decrease of $1.85. Blumhagen said
that on the median residential
property in Huron County, valued at
$210,000, the budget would result in
a decrease of $10.84 in taxes.
For farmland, the increase per
$100,000 will be $13.77 and on the
median farm property, valued at
$966,820, the increase would be
$112.26.
The April 17 meeting of Huron
County Council will be held at the
council chambers in Goderich,
beginning at 9 a.m.
County budget set for adoption
Pushing back
In the face of numerous changes to the education system
under Ontario’s Minister of Education Lisa Thompson,
thousands of students across the province took to the
streets on Thursday, walking out of classes shortly after
lunch in protest. The Citizen spoke to numerous students
who were concerned about everything from increased
class sizes to the increase in online learning proposed by
Premier Doug Ford and his government. Above, over 200 students
opted to walk out of F.E. Madill School in Wingham, Thompson’s
former high school, to show their concern. Thompson, however,
has suggested that forces “behind the scenes” are pushing
protests like Thursday’s walkouts and Saturday’s rally at Queen’s
Park and that her reforms are well received by teachers, parents
and students. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 3
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 10