The Education Province
The free-spending, wasteful government of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is on the verge of becoming a prudent, careful steward of the province's finances. Purportedly. Cuts are coming and they will be deep, and painful. Premier McGuinty's pet projects, Education and Health, may not suffer; cuts will come elsewhere, presumably.
If he is serious about protecting education in the province and still making cuts to expenses, he should re-visit the absurdity of Ontario funding separate Catholic schools. There should be one public school system, and one only. Taxes should not be expended on funding a religious-based school board.
Like all other religion-based schools, Catholic schools should be paid for with private funds, supported by those who choose to send their children to private schools. The public system is the only one, a secular-based school system, that should be funded with tax money. The funding wasted by a double-system could be used elsewhere, or ploughed back into the public system.
And for a government that insists it is working for the middle class, and is observant of the needs of those who struggle to get along, the government has launched a truly lunatic initiative in funding a program that would cut post-secondary tuition for Ontario students.
It is estimated that 300,000 Ontarians attending college or university will be eligible for refunds of up to $800 a semester. Costing the province an estimated $435-million.
Post-secondary education is already heavily subsidized by taxpayers. But since Ontario university tuition is the highest in the country it isn't a truly bad idea to give students from lower-middle-class households a break on their tuition.
We need to encourage students from lower socio-economic backgrounds to attend higher education if they qualify academically and wish to further their education.
However, by extending this program to families whose combined incomes are $160,000 annually and under, it is the upper-middle-class that is getting the breaks disproportionately. This class of student would in any event attend university or college, and they need no further incentive. It is a total waste of funding and absolutely unjust that public funding will defray costs for wealthy families.
Ontario has good reason to be concerned about cutting its operating costs, with a $16-billion deficit. But cost-cutting should be embarked upon with a degree of intelligent decision-making. This province has announced it intends to cut $66-million in research funding to the province's universities. A decision which is clearly inimical to the plans of universities and will impact on the quality of research achievement.
The government of Dalton McGuinty has made disastrous decisions in the past, leading to a waste of tax money. (How is it that B.C. has a functioning eHealth program, and ours failed?) And it appears that with its new austerity measures replacing the free-spending debacles of the recent past, its ability to make beneficial decisions to reflect well on the shrinking budget and provincial expectations has not improved one iota.
We should remind ourselves that Ontario voters actually allowed this government back into power for another term. How well have we been paying attention to its intelligent decision-making on the way to improving life in this province?
If he is serious about protecting education in the province and still making cuts to expenses, he should re-visit the absurdity of Ontario funding separate Catholic schools. There should be one public school system, and one only. Taxes should not be expended on funding a religious-based school board.
Like all other religion-based schools, Catholic schools should be paid for with private funds, supported by those who choose to send their children to private schools. The public system is the only one, a secular-based school system, that should be funded with tax money. The funding wasted by a double-system could be used elsewhere, or ploughed back into the public system.
And for a government that insists it is working for the middle class, and is observant of the needs of those who struggle to get along, the government has launched a truly lunatic initiative in funding a program that would cut post-secondary tuition for Ontario students.
It is estimated that 300,000 Ontarians attending college or university will be eligible for refunds of up to $800 a semester. Costing the province an estimated $435-million.
Post-secondary education is already heavily subsidized by taxpayers. But since Ontario university tuition is the highest in the country it isn't a truly bad idea to give students from lower-middle-class households a break on their tuition.
We need to encourage students from lower socio-economic backgrounds to attend higher education if they qualify academically and wish to further their education.
However, by extending this program to families whose combined incomes are $160,000 annually and under, it is the upper-middle-class that is getting the breaks disproportionately. This class of student would in any event attend university or college, and they need no further incentive. It is a total waste of funding and absolutely unjust that public funding will defray costs for wealthy families.
Ontario has good reason to be concerned about cutting its operating costs, with a $16-billion deficit. But cost-cutting should be embarked upon with a degree of intelligent decision-making. This province has announced it intends to cut $66-million in research funding to the province's universities. A decision which is clearly inimical to the plans of universities and will impact on the quality of research achievement.
The government of Dalton McGuinty has made disastrous decisions in the past, leading to a waste of tax money. (How is it that B.C. has a functioning eHealth program, and ours failed?) And it appears that with its new austerity measures replacing the free-spending debacles of the recent past, its ability to make beneficial decisions to reflect well on the shrinking budget and provincial expectations has not improved one iota.
We should remind ourselves that Ontario voters actually allowed this government back into power for another term. How well have we been paying attention to its intelligent decision-making on the way to improving life in this province?
Labels: Economy, Education, Ontario, Politics of Convenience
posted by Pieface | 7:58 PM
1 Comments:
A good teacher must know the rules; a good pupil, the exceptions.
custom dissertation
Post a Comment
<< Home