2019-10

Wednesday March 20, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 20, 2019

An unusually eventful budget day sets the stage for the coming election

Bill Morneau’s fourth budget is in the books, and that’s a good thing since he didn’t get a chance to deliver his speech in the Commons on Tuesday because of the din made by Conservative MPs determined to keep the public’s attention on the SNC-Lavalin affair.

Howdy Doodie Andy Scheer

The Conservatives jeered. They pounded their desks and they chanted “let her speak” in reference to their demand that former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould re-appear before the justice committee to discuss why she resigned.

Undeterred, the finance minister gamely plowed on, incapable of being heard on radio and television broadcasts, or even by his own mates on the government benches.

So let’s recap here.

Morneau’s fourth budget is not only the last instalment of the Liberals’ relentless pursuit of middle-class voters before the October election, it was a road map showing exactly which voters the party needs for another election win.

Millennials. Seniors. Blue-collar workers are all targeted for new spending, whether it’s help buying a first home, enhancements to the Canada Pension Plan or money for training. Mix in the Canada Child Benefit from Morneau’s first budget and from cradle to the grave, this government is putting more money in Canadians’ pockets.

As usual, Morneau didn’t call it spending. He never has.

Throughout his news conference in the budget lockup, the finance minister referred to investments, the need to continue to invest in Canadians even if it meant blowing by the campaign promise four years ago to balance the books by now.

March 2, 2019

The Conservatives hammered at the failure to present a plan to return to budget balance, but only as an afterthought.

Party Leader Andrew Scheer seemed far more interested in portraying the budget as a blatant attempt to deflect attention away from the role Justin Trudeau and his office played in trying to stop the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin on fraud and corruption charges.

Scheer never said what the Conservatives would offer as an an alternative. Never said how his party would balance the books.

It all made for an unusually eventful budget day. A Liberal financial plan tuned into the anxiety voters might be feeling in advance of an election. The main opposition party honed in on keeping a scandal alive as long as they can. New Democrats and the Greens anxiously competing for any slice of the progressive vote they can peel away.

An election may still be six months away. The campaigning is already well under way. (Source: CBC News) 

 

Tuesday March 19, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 19, 2019

Education changes are more and less than they seem

If you were among those who felt anxiety about the Ford government’s education reforms, you probably heaved a sigh of relief when they were finally rolled out last week.

March 13, 2019

The government made noises about changing or even killing all-day kindergarten, but ultimately ended up supporting it, at least so far. It didn’t mandate larger class sizes for early year students.

After vilifying and killing the previous government’s sex education curriculum, the government ended up restoring virtually all of the elements from the curriculum it professed to hate. The new-not-new curriculum covers most of the same ground, which is bound to make social conservatives angry, since they threw their support behind Ford’s PC party leadership in part because he pledged to kill sex-ed. But while that segment of Ford’s base must feel betrayed, students will be better served, and parents — most of whom supported the modern curriculum — will be happy with the outcome.

A “back to basics” math curriculum is also in the reforms. There are mixed opinions on that, but the fact is math scores were trending downward, so some changes are appropriate.

February 8, 2019

Then there’s the classroom cellphone ban, which is almost entirely symbolic since most school boards have local policies that are working. It’s also probably unenforceable, but if it does no real good, it also does no real harm.

Although maintaining current class size caps from kindergarten to Grade 3, Education Minister Lisa Thompson announced that an average of one student will be added to classes in Grades 4 to 8, which average high school class sizes increasing from 22 to 28. That sounds reasonable.

Not so fast. While Thompson said “Not one teacher — not one — will lose their job because of our class size strategy,” many education experts disagree. The government says any teacher reductions will be realized through retirement and attrition, but the fact remains that at the end of the rollout, there will be thousands fewer teachers in the system than there are today.

In fact, a Toronto District School Board document reveals the class sizes will mean the loss of approximately 800 high school teaching positions, along with 216 in Grades 4 through 8. The same report states that with the government’s earlier round of cuts — $25 million for special programs — 82 high school positions will disappear. Estimates are that total job losses through attrition will be between 16,000 and 18,000.

Then there’s the fact that class sizes aren’t what the seem. While the government funds for an average of 22 students, the reality is that classes often reach 30 or more to accommodate smaller specialized classes. Union officials are predicting these changes will mean class sizes of 40 in some cases.

Then there’s this. Arbitrarily increasing class sizes will lead to collective bargaining with teacher unions and boards getting off to a terrible start before negotiations even begin. In many cases local agreements include class size provisions, so unions will be fighting the provincial-controlled changes from the start.

These reforms may not be all bad, but they’re certainly not all good, and they open the door to stormy weather in our education system. (Source: Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Thursday March 14, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 14, 2019

‘Trudeau? Scandal? I don’t believe it’: As controversy rocks Canada’s PM, the world winces — then shrugs

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s political crisis has shaken Ottawa — and now, the tremors are starting to register abroad.

December 21, 2017

Outside the white-marble Newseum building in Washington on Thursday, the morning’s copy of the Globe and Mail sat behind glass, displayed alongside the front pages of newspapers from all 50 U.S. states, plus the District of Columbia.

Janet McCarty, a retired civil servant living in Washington, perused the headlines. Only one publication — the Globe — led with the latest on the SNC-Lavalin scandal, in which the Prime Minister’s Office stands accused of meddling in a criminal prosecution case against the Quebec engineering giant.

McCarty grimaced. Like many others on the political left, she’s always considered Trudeau an unimpeachable moral authority and darling of the international left.

“If this is true, then Justin is not the person that we thought he was,” she said.

McCarty lamented that another world leader with a global outlook, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has decided not to seek re-election. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May, a Conservative, has faced at least eight cabinet resignations in less than two years over her controversial Brexit deal.

January 18, 2019

“Justin. I mean, they’re all — Angela Merkel, Theresa May — everybody’s going down the toilet,” McCarty said.

Trudeau’s brand as a global liberal icon is strong in some parts of the U.S., which might explain why Manuel Macias, 36, was so shocked to hear about the SNC-Lavalin affair when he stopped to scan the Newseum headlines this week.

“Trudeau? A scandal? I don’t believe it.

“In this day and age, we don’t really have a lot of shining light all across the world,” said Macias, who identifies as a liberal. “Unless something really comes out that’s proven facts, why throw dirt on him when we’ve got such a good positive role model?”

March 2, 2019

If the SNC-Lavalin debacle has been slow to gain traction outside of Canada, it may also have to do with domestic-scandal fatigue, at least in Britain and the U.S.

In London, John Prideaux, the U.S. editor for The Economist, cited Washington’s woes, as well as Britain’s mismanagement of a plan to withdraw from the European Union, as reasons why some Britons and Americans might not be tuning in.

“What’s happening in Canada looks to me like a more conventional political scandal that you get in a healthy political culture, where people are really held accountable for what they’ve done,” Prideaux said.

That said, the SNC-Lavalin affair has “broken through” the British press — no easy feat. (Continued: CBC) 

 

Wednesday March 13, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 13, 2019

Ontario to ban cellphones from classrooms starting next school year

Ontario students will no longer be able to use their cellphones in the classroom next September, as Premier Doug Ford makes good on a populist campaign promise.

August 24, 2018

CTV News Toronto has confirmed that the Ministry of Education will change the code of conduct for students and teachers, implementing a ban on smartphone use during class time but allowing local school boards to decide how to enforce the new rules.

“Ontario’s students need to be able to focus on their learning – not their cellphones,” Education Minister Lisa Thompson said in a statement.

“By banning cellphone use that distracts from learning, we are helping students to focus on acquiring the foundational skills they need like reading, writing and math.”

The new student code of conduct is expected to have strict guidelines for cellphone use, including preventing students from placing their phones face-down on desks, even with the ringer set to silent.

September 3, 2013

Students would be allowed to bring their phones into the classroom, the government said, but usage would be reserved for educational and emergency situations.

“Obviously for emergency purposes, for medical purposes and for specific courses that require technological platforms – they’d be permissible,” Progressive Conservative MPP Stephen Lecce told CTV News Toronto.

The government said teachers and parents overwhelmingly supported banning cellphone use during telephone town halls and surveys conducted last fall, in which 97 per cent of the 35,000 respondents advocated for the move.

Among the feedback sent to the ministry of education, educators complained that phones were not only a distraction but that students were also using them to cheat and share unflattering photographs of teachers on social media.

September 17, 2010

Ministry of education officials, speaking on background, said students wouldn’t be expected to lock up their phones and while enforcement will be difficult, it will be left up to school boards.

“Parents deserve to know it, students deserve to know it for their own protection, and to be fair, educators want how they’re going to have that enforceability,” Lecce said.

While Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner agrees that cellphones can be a distraction, he is critical of what he describes as the government’s “top-down regulation” approach.

“The Ford government is just duplicating powers that educators already have to control cellphone use in their classrooms. Instead of empowering schools to create reasonable cell phone use policies, Ford is promising a province-wide ban that is impossible to enforce,” Schreiner said in a statement. (Source: CTV News)  

 

Tuesday March 12, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 12, 2019

Ontario government ponders ban on single-use plastics

Ontario is weighing a ban on single-use plastics, which include bags, water bottles and straws.

April 24, 2018

Nearly a tonne of waste per person in Ontario is generated each year, and the rate at which that waste is diverted away from landfills — through recycling and composting, for example — has stalled around 30 per cent for the past 15 years.

The government recently released a discussion paper on reducing litter and waste,  and is asking the public and stakeholders for input on how to best address the problem. One question it asks is if a ban on single-use plastics would be effective in reducing plastic waste.

Environment Minister Rod Phillips said it’s an area in which the government is very open.

January 16, 2019

“We are essentially saying, ‘How would those work and how have they worked in other jurisdictions effectively?”‘ Phillips said in an interview. “Plastics is a priority from our government’s point of view, particularly as we talk about plastics in our waterways.”

It is estimated that almost 10,000 tonnes of plastic debris enter the Great Lakes each year, the discussion paper says. Ontario’s Blue Box recycling program recovers only about 28 per cent of all plastic packaging in the province.

Ontario is also mulling a deposit return system for plastic bottles and other containers, as is used in some other provinces.

March 6, 2015

Keith Brooks, programs director at Environmental Defence, said a lot of single-use plastics are unnecessary, pointing to straws and cutlery.

“I think that a ban on some single-use plastics makes a lot of sense,” he said. “I think it’s a good conversation to have.”

But by asking such a broad question, the answer may be no, Brooks cautioned, saying he didn’t think any jurisdiction has banned all single-use plastics.

“There’s some single-use plastics that are probably going to continue to be used…for food safety reasons and things like that,” he said, though he would push for them to be standardized and recyclable. (Source: CBC)