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Friday May 14,1999 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER F a m i l y C o a l i t i o n P a r t y c a n d i d a t e Adrian Ratelle pushes message that family is foundation o f society By H o w ard M o ze l O A K V IL L E BEAVER STAFF Sad as it sounds, debates now raging in the wake of recent school violence may have created an environment more receptive to the message of the Family Coalition Party (FCP), says Oakville candidate Adrian Ratelle. After all, says the married father of three, such alarming issues as youth alienation can all too often trace their roots to a breakdown in the traditional family unit. Far from a bunch of reli­ gious fanatics, says Ratelle, FCP mem­ bers just care about the preservation of the fundamental building blocks of community life. "We're simply trying to protect our families from the assaults the family has been under," he said. "We believe that the family is the foundation of society. If you don't protect the family, society is in trouble." According to FCP literature, governments have a "fundamental obligation" to protect and promote the well-being of the family and so doing will lessen such ills as child abuse, teenage pregnancies and drug abuse. Ratelle, 42, admits to not being a "joiner" but says he decided to run after taking stock of the many pressing provincial issues and resolving to set an example for his children. "The easiest thing to do is stand back and com­ plain," says Ratelle, a distributor for Nikken health and wellness products. "Sometimes you just need to stand up and say what you believe in." The FCP's definition of a "family" is a man and a woman with either natural or adopted children. Ratelle says he would have no desire to win the provincial election if only the next government adopted several key policies endorsed by the FCP. "We'd prefer not to be in politics," said Ratelle. "We don't want to be career politicians but we want to prompt some changes." Adrian Ratelle Such changes would include more free votes by MPPs, proportional representation and a voucher system for education so that parents can send their children to the school of their choice. (Each school must meet minimum academic standards and cur­ riculum requirements to be certified.) In healthcare, Ratelle says the FCP believes the "customer" should see a full accounting of the cost of services used to help curb over-billing. He also maintains that caps on doctors' fees should be removed. "If a doctor is an absolute wizard at something, he should be well paid for it," he said. As for abortion, Ratelle says he has seri­ ous misgivings about using tax money to pay for a procedure many people are opposed to. "The FCP is not saying no one should get an abortion. We feel it's elective surgery and the taxpayers should not have to pay for it," said Ratelle. "If you're talking about choice, lets fund all choices." Ratelle is also concerned with the financial mis­ management of the healthcare system in general, saying taxes won't pay for a nose-job, but will for sex-change surgery. Tax reform is also high on the FCP agenda. After all, says Ratelle, why should a $50,000 sin­ gle-income family pay more tax than two $25,000 earners? To make matters worse, the government then turns around and subsidizes daycare for this pair of working parents. Such discrimination against families who opt for one parent to stay home and raise children should be eliminated. The FCP also stands for debt and deficit reduc­ tion which Ratelle says would pave the way for reducing the PST by 2% every year until it is elim­ inated. The FCP would also require the government to reduce its deficit each year by at least 20%. If not, the premier must call an election. 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