HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1995-10-25, Page 4Page 4 • Times -Advocate, October 25, 1995
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EDI'I'oRIA1
Educate the kids
The idea of the Huron County
Board of Education placing a limit on
the number of credits students can take
during Grade 11, 12 and O.A.C. is a
travesty of our education system.
Schools were designed for learning.
The idea of having students attend
schools is so that they can broaden their
personal horizons and hopefully reach a
conclusion with enough knowledge to
become contributing members of socie-
ty. Schools were not designed to tell
kids you could learn...but only so
much.
The school board, in trying to cope
with the down -loading from the provin-
cial government on their budget has
identified 30 areas for consideration in
cost savings. The majority of items are
reasonable areas for discussion: such as
a no work - no pay policy for storm
days and attrition.
But others, such as the credit limit for
high school students contradict reason-
able thinking, even for a school board.
Our students and teachers have en-
dured several years of media scrutiny.
Often the focus has been on the failing
side of education in Ontario. Seldom
have we examined the real problems
that lay within a top-heavy bureaucra-
cy. After all, which trustee will actually
vote to reduce the number.sitting on a
school board when they may be the one
that loses their political clout? Or re-
ducing the number of superintendents
that collect large salaries? How about
the number of "consultants" used in de-
veloping school board curriculum?
To even consider reducing education
opportunities for our students, the board
is truly showing that it has little interest
in producing highly educated students.
These budget cut considerations reveal
more that the board is interested in pro-
ducing cost effective students: a manda-
tory end result with as little financial in-
vestment as possible.
Rather than considering placing a limi-
tation on the number of courses students
are allowed to take in their final three
years of high school, our school board
should be encouraging our students to
grasp every minuscule piece of knowl-
edge they can. Any advantage gained in
high school will most certainly pay off
down the road in the working world.
The school board has every right to in-
form the public about the level of down-
loading from the provincial government.
They have every right to complain about
having to bear the responsibility of in-
creased taxation.
But they also have the responsibility to
educate the children; not to determine
what and how much they can learn. How
much more will our students have to
deal,witlr as they prepare for a rapidly
growing competitive world?
Wingham Advance -Times
Your Views
Letters to the editor
Town hall project over budget
The cost over and above the origi-
nal budget is estimated to be be
between $75,000 and $100,000
Dear Editor:
The statements of our Reeve, Bill Mickle, over
the past year, seem rather hollow.
"I give my personal guarantee" and "Dead on",
pertaining to the town hall project, is pure political
jargon.
The cost over and above the original budget is es-
timated to be between $75 000 and $100 000.
This increase is now being blamed on drapes,
electronic equipment, office furniture, repairs to
front entrance and landscaping.
Most of these items were discussed, in meetings,
prior to the final approval.
We now end up with an abandoned police station,
crumbling library and a main street building that can
be purchased for $45,000.
Please cancel my invitation to the official town
hall opening.
Ron Westman
151 Sanders St. E. Exeter
A View From Queeii'SPark
By Eric Dowd
TORONTO -- Mike Harris seems to view
governing as a 100 -metres dash and it is
causing him to stumble at times.
The Progressive Conservative premier
and his government have scurried faster to
implement policies than any predecessor in
memory.
A short list of their actions in four months
includes cutting welfare and many social
services, scrapping the former New Demo-
crat government's landmark labor and em-
ployment equity laws, photo radar and the
Interim Waste Authority, closing halfway
houses that smooth releases from jail, start-
ing cutting the public service, emasculating
a law to make cyclists wear helmets and
freezing the minimum wage.
The Tories are proud of their fleet-
footedness. Deputy Premier Ernie Eves
boasted they have "moved faster and on
more fronts than any previous administra-
tion in Ontario or perhaps anywhere."
His claim to be world's fastest is hard to
verify, but Tory governments from 1943-85
moved comparatively leisurely and even
stood still at times when they judged this
was what the public wanted.
Only the Liberal minority government of
1985 under David Peterson ran even close
to the Harris Tories for speed and it was
pushed by the NDP which lent it votes.
The Harris Tories' hurry is part of their
philosophy. They are there to change socie-
ty radically, know what they want and have
no interest in equivocation or delay.
In the June election the Tories also set
timetables for fulfilling many of their
promises such as cutting provincial income
tax by 30 per cent in three years and elimi-
nating all red tape holding back business in
12 months.
They promised they would not get
bogged down in debates and Harris said he
would resign if he failed to meet his dead-
lines.
The whole impression the Tories gave
was that they were for drastic change and
urgently and this was a large part of their
The value of televising council meetings
Capturing discussions and
decisions of any council and
bringing such information to the
people is not just important, it's
a constitutional right.
Lucan council has just spent
the past month deciding whether
or not to permit a village
resident to record its meetings
live on television. But as the
resident pointed out during one
particularly heated council
discussion, "It's not a matter of
choice. It's a public meeting."
Canada's freedom of
expression rights include the
privilege to collect and publish
information developing from
public meetings. That means
print journalists with notebooks,
radio reporters with tape
recorders and television camera
people all have the liberty to
attend public meetings and
report on them for the benefit of
the public. The only exception,
within reason, is in -camera or
closed sections of meetings.
Lucan Council made the right
move on Oct. 17 when it
quickly passed a motion to
have its meetings taped live for
Mitchell Seaforth Cable TV. By
doing so, not only is council
making its meetings accessible
for those who can't attend due
to illness, disability or lack of
time, it's providing an excellent
example of what other village
and town councils could do to
better inform citizens.
Normally we associate
televised council meetings with
cities such as London. Why
shouldn't citizens of smaller
communities have the
opportunity to keep informed of
council information by tuning
into their televisions?
People's busy schedules don't
often allow them time to attend
a three-hour council meeting,
but may include glimpses at the
TV. A large percentage of the
population now gets its general
news from television reports, so
why not obtain recent council
news from the same
easily -accessible source?
The root of Lucan Council's
initial resistance to the airing of
its meetings appeared to be a
general case of camera shyness.
All but two members admitted
they would simply feel
uncomforable in front of the
camera, later adding they could,
in time, get used to being taped.
Although such feelings are
understandable, camera shyness
is fine for those who have the
choice of whether or not to
appear on television but
provides no excuse for others
making decisions that affect a
number of people.
What would happen if London
Mayor Dianne Haskett refused
to appear on television because
she felt...uncomfortable? Would
the taping of council meetings
be postponed until she dealt
with her shyness?
Obviously Lucan council feels
the citizens of its village are
more important in this case
than the individual
apprehensiveness of its
members, as was shown when
the motion to permit TV
coverage was passed.
Before this decision was
made, the notion was brought
up at council that citizens would
also shy away from the camera
and not discuss controversial
issues openly if they knew they
were being taped. As with
council, surely the concerns of
those citizens, who often
represent many others in the
community, override subjective
feelings of self-consciousness.
There seems to be a mixed
reaction from village residents
about this issue. According to
the two councillors who initially
agreed with TV coverage,
people they talked to think it's a
wonderful idea, a necessity.
Council members who voiced
their opinions against TV
coverage said their personal
research has led them to many
people who feel broadcasting
council meetings is ridiculous
and useless. One citizen was
noted as telling a council
member, "If you were on
television, do you think I'd
watch you anyway?"
While Lucan Council admits
going live will not put it in the
ranks of TV stardom or in
competition with Hockey Night
in Canada, hopefully it realizes
what an important service it will
provide those who are
interested.
100 metre dash by Harris
appeal. It has become a matter of pride for
them to get things done quickly.
The Tories also need to start reducing
costs urgently if they are to meet their dead-
lines for cutting taxes and balancing the
budget.
But the haste has brought them problems.
Community and Social Services Minister
David Tsubouchi has had to deliver the
most abject apology by a minister in years
claiming a basic change in regulations that
would have cut many disabled off welfare
was made without his knowledge and any
way it is looked at the Tories tripped on
something they could have avoided with
more time and thought.
The Tories are so eager to get rid of the
NDP's employment equity law, which re-
quired workforces to reflect the community
in women, visible minorities, aboriginals
and the disabled, that they raced in a law to
scrap it without any clear idea what they
will put in its place.
Some substitute is needed because studies
show these groups still face unfair barriers
to jobs, but the Tories promised only to
"develop a sensible, cost-effective, equal
opportunity plan" and could not wait.
In their haste to close halfway houses the
Tories gave some inmates only a couple of
hours notice they had to get back to jail,
which will not make them feel society cares
deeply about rehabilitating them.
The Tories have rushed so that sometimes
they have the cart before the horse. For ex-
ample they have cut already meager wel-
fare while doing nothing to reduce the
many employees at the legislature who are
paid year-round but work only when it sits,
which is less than half the year.
The Tories have incurred anger because
they failed to consult some people affected
before acting, but oddly will consult them
later, and refused time to debate which they
demanded when they were in opposition --
they are being taught that governing is not
a sprint but a marathon.
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