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Page 4 <'Hatton Hills This Week, Wednesday, ‘April 1 4. 1993 Editorial Damning a generation The Halton Board of Education, through a letter from Chair David Coons and Director of Education Bob Williams, has for- mally requested a meeting with David Cooke, provincial Minister of Education and Training, in an attempt to get a handle on the NDP’s plans and in regards the education sys- tem in Halton. We wish the pair, and the board luck, but would advise them not to hold their breath in what seems a determined effort by both the provincial and federal governments to toss aside a whole generation of Canadians for the sake of political expediency. As pointed out in the letter, the board was going under a promise from the NDP of a 2% increase in grant money while attempting to formulate its 1993 budget. What it received instead, represented an actual loss of $3.4 million dollars and this could have led to the forced layoff of upwards of 75 teachers. Combined with the previous year’s $7.8 million shortfall Messrs. Coons and Williams are quite right in Stating bluntly, “Frankly, this is not acceptable.” In addition, the mandarins at Queen’s Park, also expect school boards throughout the province to implement their de-streaming dictum and have in place by 1994, a Junior Kindergarten pro- er puddy can you spare us a Dimetapp. According to figures obtained from Statistics Canada (an arm of the federal government) since 1984 when the Progressive Conservatives took over, our trade surplus has fallen from $19.8 billion to $7.4 billion, our high tech trade has gone from a sur- plus of $1billion to a deficit of $30 billion and our manufacturing Productivity has grown at only two-thirds the rate of other G-7 countries. And why is that? Because we don’t have proper high-tech training programs in place at either high school, college, or university level or even in the manufacturing sector, for young Canadians to compete at the job level required. Jim Nininger, President of the Conference Board of Canada, in speaking on the North American Free Trade Agreement (between Canada;.the United-States and Mexico) said, “We’re teally talking about a new economic environment and Canadians will needa higher level of education and training than in the past.” Unemployment across Canada rose to 11% in March, up from 10.8% in February and climbed to 10.3% in Ontario, up 0.3 per- centage points from February. < Take a drive around Halton Hills and shudder at the small manufacturing industries and factories that have been forced to Close because of the combination of the recession and flights across the border because of Canada’s Free Trade pact with the US. Are these people - unskilled for the most part - going to be able to survive in a new high tech environment without proper re- training or the upgrading of their education levels? Not likely. So what is the answer to the crying need to improve both our education system and specialized training programs within the manufacturing sector that we get from both our provincial and federal politicians? Retreat! Save our own bacon. The federal government cuts transfer payments and the provin- cial government does likewise, thus catering to the caterwauling corps of born-again cheapies who no doubt approve of the feder- al government’s decision to spend $5.6 billion on useless heli- copters and the provincial government’s decision to waste tax- payer money on bilingual road signs. By ignoring the education needs of our young people NOW, beth levels of government are not only damning a generation to second class aspirations, they are also damning Canada to second class country status. Meeting sought with Education Minister Ediitor’s note: A copy of the fol- lowing letter from the Halton Board of Education addressed to David Cooke, minister of Education and Training was forwarded to Halton Hills This Week for publica- tion. Dear Mr. Cooke: We want to begin by welcoming you to your position as Minister. are exciting and challenging times for education, and we need strong and consistent leadership at the provincial level. We are also writing, on behalf of our trustees, employee group presi- dents and administration, to express concern over a number of issues. You should know that the content of this letter has been formally approved and endorsed by our Board of Trustees and by the presi- dents of our 10 employee groups. To start with, we share an obvi- ous concern over what has hap- pened with this year’s grants. We had worked hard in Halton to reduce our expenditure increase to the lowest in the history of our board. We believed, with your gov- ernment’s promise of a 2% increase in grants, that we could produce an acceptable mill rate for our ratepay- ers. Unfortunately, for the Halton Bill C-397 a gag order To the Editor: Thank you for publishing my let- ter re Bill C-114. I think your read- ers would like to know about other good stuff that government is loing. Bill C-397 will limit the amount of money an individual or company may spend on advertising against government policy, or bills. You * know how much advertising can be purchased for $1,000. Not much. Not enough to get one’s message out. Well, that’s how much our lords and masters will allow to be spent to oppose them. course, this does not apply to political parties. They make the tules to help them retain power. The Libertarian Party will help any company, or individual to beat this gag order. As a political party, we can advertise. We will accept Paid advertising from any group, or individual. No censorship from us! The thought-that the old line political parties can gag us is frightening. We are in real trouble in this country, and most people do not know, or care. John Shadbolt Director, Libertarian Party of Canada Board of Education and for the tax- payers of Halton, we have once again seen a dramatic reduction in revenues from the ministry. Instead of an increase, we have suffered a loss of $3.4 million, or 5.1%. This is adding insult to injury after last year’s reduction in grants of $7.8 million. Frankly, this is not accept- able. The announcement by your min- istry that funding for 1994 will be dramatically reduced has serious implications. The Halton Board of Education will be looking at a real reduction of 4% to 5% in our 1994 budget. Clearly, faced with this financial shortfall, the planned implementation of Junior Kindergarten in 1994 could be financially disastrous for our board. Not a single member of the com- munity has called or written to the board or administration asking for JK. If you feel that you inust con- tinue with this initiative, at least ~ P.O.W.E.R defer mandatory start of the pro- gram by at least one year so that we, as a board, can try to reallocate our limited resources over the long- term. Is this possible? Finally, Mr. Minister, we have to say that the trustees and members of our employee groups have some serious concerns about the issues raised in this letter. Serious enough that we would like to formally request a meeting with you, at your earliest possible convenience to dis- cuss these matters. We would attend, along with the vice-chair of our board and the presidents of all 10 of our employee groups. Please let us know, as soon as possible, a date that you will be available for such a meeting. Thank you for your considera- tion. Dave Coons, Chair of the Board Bob Williams, Director of Education bynow, To Barbara and all her hard- _ working executive, I say “More . to ya - keep up the good work!” For Pete's Sake I MADE IT erswEn Halton Hills This Week, Wednesday Edttion, is pub- lished jednesday at 242 * Georgetown, Ont. L7G 4B1, and is printed in Oakville by Q.. Web Printing. In the event of typographical error advertising goods ‘or services at wrong price, goods or services may not. 1. E MANAGER: Jean Shewell CIRCULATION MANAGER: Marie Shadbolt HALTON HILLS THIS WEEK IS INDEPENDENTLY OWNED & OPERATED. PHONE: 873-2254 — FAX;873-3918