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Tr TI rr wa TRE ER RT NTT ERENT RRS TIR------, PORT PERRY "WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2000 - 7 LETTERS Tories' act does not ensure quality of education To the Editor: I am writing to inform the general public of the contents of the new act or edict about to be passed by the provincial gov- ernment, since this information has not yet appeared in your newspaper. This act does not ensure quality public education for our children, it does ensure that no one (not trustees, not boards of education, not prin- cipals, or teachers) will challenge the provincial government in its relentless attempts kill public education in Ontario. The Education Accountability Act, 2000 dic- tates: a during the school year, co-instruction- al duties can be assigned to teachers any time during the day, seven days a week, with no specified maximum number of hours of work, and the teacher can be assigned to carry them out anywhere (s.17) a principals can override collective agreement provisions regarding co-instruc- tional activities and duties established in a 'democracy, and instead create a mini-dic- tatorship (s.2(2)) 0 the minister has new authority to "micro-manage" compliance with this edict through requirement of reports from boards, and where the minister has "con- cerns" about a board plan for "co-instruc- tion" (extra duties for the teachers), the minister can direct it to be changed. (In other words the elected trustees are only allowed to do as the minister decrees - there is no room for discussion, or co-oper- ation.). a the provincial government ensures nothing more than puppetry as those who do not fully co-operate with the minister face a severe penalty. Members, officers To the Editor: Profits for the oil cartel continue to surge while the motorists' pockets are being picked. Every holiday weekend sees the prices jump, not by a few cents, but often seven to 10 cents a litre. The big four refiners are squeezing every cent they can while governments do nothing. With the independents forced out of business the majors, Petrocan, Esso and Sunoco charge whatever they like. I contacted the Minister of Energy in Getting hosed at the pumps once again Ottawa and was told they have no control over prices of petroleum products. They have a Competition Act, but fail to act on behalf of motorists. Like the gas barons robbing us, they collect billions in gas taxes, including the hated GST. How much longer will motorists put up with gas companies continuing to rip off consumers, and thumb their noses at "do nothing" government and motorists alike? Dean Kelly, Port Perry Straight Talk by ALEX SHEPHERD DURHAM M.P. So who is the real conservative party? That's the debate preoccupying the opposition benches in the House of Commons these days and some to preoc- cupy the benches of the Supreme Court. The Progressive Conservative Party of "Canada is a Canadian institution that, | my view, reflects that definition. The party gave us our first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, a visionary and rail- road builder, who united us as a country. The party was in power when Canadians went to Europe to take part in the First World War. At that time Sir Robert Borden was prime minister. Containing such great intellectuals like Arthur Meighen, who was prime minister in the 1920s and nationalists like Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, the Progressive Conservative Party has been in the vanguard of monumental change and nation building throughout Canada's history. | certainly feel more at ease debating Progressive Conservatives than | do members of the Reform/Alliance. It's not that the debate is easier, but Progressive Conservatives and Liberals both start off with the same basis rules of what Canada is all about. That is a feder- ation of provinces and territories with a federal government leveling the playing The real conservatives field in the area of economic and social policy. Canada is a country that works with its diversity and attempts, at any one time, to adjust for citizens who are significantly less advantaged than others. The Reform/Alliance is really only interested in local issues. Some argue it really isn't a national political party at all, but merely a western protest move- ment. It believes in taking away powers belonging to the federal government. But Canada is already one of the most decentralized countries in the western world. The Reform/Alliance believes in poli- cies like the flat tax so those who are real- ly wealthy can keep their wealth indefi- nitely, while those who are not wealthy either have to sink or swim. The Reform/Alliance believes in dis- mantling our social safety net such as Medicare and the Canada Pension Plan, and public institutions such as the CBC. Canadians take a great deal of pride in all of these. Reform/Alliance beiieves in sus- pending the constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms depending on what legislation it would want to pass. Thinking back to the definition I used above the Reform/Alliance is radical, doesn't believe in the maintenance of our institutions of government and would ultimately take us in a direction Canadians do not want to go. As far as the case that will go before the Supreme Court, it seems to me, that on the evidence, there is but one conser- vative party and that is the party of Sir John A. Macdonald. and employees of a board who fail to com- ply with the minister's direction are per- sonally hable for a $5,000 fine (s. 230.12(2) and (5) and are subject to dismissal (s. 230. 12(4). Elected board members who vote for an unauthorized expenditure of funds are liable for those funds and are disquali- fied for five years from holding any office for which elections are held under the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 (s. 230.13). Is this democratic? a this issue is not just about having bas- ketball, drama, science clubs, etc. This issue is about replacing a system of democracy and co-operation, (at least in most boards in the province), with a sys- tem of dictatorship. How is this a benefit to our children and to the institution of pub- lic education? This government is systematically destroying everything of value in public education and will not rest, it seems, until able to write its eulogy. All public boards of education in this province, except Durham, had in place a democratically negotiated settlement which did not require teaching an extra class. Durham alone, with the collusion of a government appointed "arbitrator" man- dated its teachers to take an extra class and all of the responsibilities attached to it. Some teachers were still able to find time to provide extra activities for the stu- dents, despite their extra responsibilities. In those cases, activities were provided. This was not the case for the vast majority of teachers. The Durham Board took its teachers to court, hoping to force them to cover both extra classes and extracurricular activities. They were unsuccessful. Other boards worked cooperatively to find solu- tions to the new government regulations. Durham decided to play dictator. Now, every board in the province is forced to apply the Durham method or suffer the wrath of Ontario's dictator. This ministry has underfunded educa- tion, as witnessed especially in Durham, refused to listen to the very committees it established, i.e. School Community Councils, College of Teachers and democ- ratically elected trustees, cut the number of support staff in schools, increased real class sizes, decimated a very successful special education program in Durham, closed schools, mandated monies be spent on computers while providing little to support them, required the rushed pur- chase of flawed texts at a premium price, refused to accept any criticism from any sector, continually bullied and denigrated the front line workers in education, and defamed the institution itself, all in order to create a mistrust in the system so peo- ple will demand private schools, charter schools, and thus kill quality public educa- tion. If you do not want to be an active par- ticipant in this process, call and/or write to John O'Toole, Janet Ecker, or Mike Harris. No one can truthfully say the public edu- cation system is better today than it was six years ago. This massacre has got to stop. Gord Humphrey, Port Perry The privacy Staying in Touch JOHN R. O'TOOLE 7934 SB0100 385 FaN\ I OSH | The Legislative Assembly concluded last week on a controversial note. It began last January with an article published in the Globe & Mail. The Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC), Ann Cavoukian, released a report on this matter on April 26 entitled, "A Special Report to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on the Disclosure of Personal Information by the Province of Ontario Savings Office (POSO), Ministry of Finance." The report was critical of how POSO and the Ministry of Finance handled the release of confidential information on their depositors. The IPC report accused the govern- ment of obstructing her investigation. Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke MPP, Sean Conway, raised a Point of Privilege with the speaker nearly two weeks ago and on Thursday, the speaker, the Honourable Gary Carr, reported back to the assembly. There are a number of technical issues involved, the first being that existing statues do not require information requested by the IPC to be released. Furthermore, civil servants and ministers take oaths of confidentiality not to dis- close certain cabinet information. controversy It should be noted that none of the depositors' confidential information was ever released to the general public. The IPC report had seven recommenda- tions, four of which have been acted upon. Finance Minister Ernie Eves entered a Notice of Motion #49 on May 16 refer- ring the matter to the Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly to review the Information and Protection of Privacy Act and report back to the Legislature. In some ways, the same issue is before the federal government,s Ministry of Human Resources and the minister, Jane Stewart. Our personal information, stored on computer data files, needs to be secured. Of this there is no question. The larger question is what information do we need, why do governments need this information, who has access to it and why? This is the "Big Brother" scenario of George Orwell's 1984. | am very interest- ed in this issue because, in a general sense, it falls under consumer protection and the role of the government. With all the computer hackers and viruses around these days, it is clear that we must strengthen the legislative authority in this area. Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, the Honourable Elizabeth Witmer has announced $1 billion in hospital cap- ital funding. For Durham, this means that Lakeridge Health will receive $30 million to modemize the Oshawa site's cancer treatment, emergency and ambulatory care expansion. '