MiddleClassCentrist

Exactly, there is always a place for private schools. That is the operation of the free market. I don't think anyone is advocating they disappear but, our public system is very good. We need people to be educated in that fact. For just under $8/classroom hour your child/grandchildren get educated in one of the worlds best education systems. Most provincial curriculum is available on-line and if you look, you'll find that it is fairly comprehensive in offering a broad range of subject/learning/skills pathways. Ontario Secondary Curriculum Private schools still have to cover ontario curriculum to get accredited. In the end, whether your child goes to private or public they are getting the same knowledge but, they might be receiving that knowledge in a different format or different emphasis. Of course, in private school the unsavoury students (special needs, behavioural, weak, poor) students are filtered out so that your child will not suffer having to deal with them.

I find it ironic that baby boomers want tax cuts but, also are concerned about their health care. They won't be able to afford private health care as an option because they'll need a health plan that will be ridiculously expensive at their age. Everyone wants the services but, no one wants to pay for them.

[quote name='ninjandrew' date='16 May 2011 - 12:57 AM' timestamp='1305532651' post='672266' I think I'm a pretty good example of somebody that could have legitimately used EI between contracts, but it's pretty tough to make the cut. You'd have my support in being eligible to get it. I wonder why 5 months wasn't enough, was it the hours? I've heard of temporary contract teachers (filling maternity, long term absences) etc being able to claim xmas and summer which would put them in intervals of about 5 months.

Separation is only in the interest, economically speaking of course, for provinces that run a surplus. Provinces like Alberta, that get a large amount of money from extracting natural resources, could feasibly separate. Ontario, when it was in its manufacturing prime, could have separated. I personally have no problem supporting other provinces that have been hit hard economically over the years with tax money. That is usually where the divide comes into play. With the separation mindset in Alberta for example. Alberta can afford to be conservative ideologically because of their natural resources, not because of innovation and hard work of their people. The oil tax revenue is huge. They don't want to share it either, which is silly because at some point in the future we will wean our need for oil products and Alberta will sink economically (could be 100 years or more, keep in mind). At that point, it would be eaten by the U.S. if it had separated. I guess what I am saying is that, separation is often short sighted and of little benefit in the long run.

Most of the trolls I find on internet boards are conservative trolls. I wonder what social issue this is a result of?

Skip Joseph Brant and go to the Oakville one. I lived in Burlington and we drove to the Oakville hospital because it was a larger and more efficient facility. I remember having kidney stones and waiting 8 hours at Joseph Brant before any pain meds were given. At the Oakville hospital I was in and medicated for my second kidney stone episode in under 1 hour.

We have one of the lowest effective corporate tax rates in the G8. keep on controlling.

Fact: Canada placed second in education by the OECD. http://www.conferenceboard.ca/HCP/overview/Educationskills.aspx It was one of the only 2 countries on the rating to receive an A grade. The problem with our public education is that it's actually really good. That is not to say that there can't be improvements in delivery. Most of the arguments against the system are ideological in nature. Your article talks about the American system, which is garbage. For instance, in Ontario, public schools are funded based on enrolment. Not by the exact district that a specific school lies within. This means that if your child/grandchild chooses to go to a different school within the school board, they can. Provided parents are willing to transport them. This is especially important because, unlike the US, our public schools offer many speciality programs like Robotics, Computer Engineering, Health/Nursing, Hospitality, etc and students should be able to go to another local school if they offer the program the child is interested in. In Canada, teachers are also paid a decent wage for the 5-6 years of Univeristy Education or professional experience required(Except Quebec). This means they can actually hire people who want to teach and are very capable as human beings to excel in private industry for more than a teacher salary. If you knock down the teacher wage too much (as in the states), you only get low quality people or people who aren't willing to work for the pay they are worth... not exactly who you want teaching your kids. Imagine a robotics engineer or other high tech professional teaching for 50k/year (LOL! yeah right). That isn't to say that some areas aren't overpaid (Kindergarten, low end elementary grades, physical education and guidance counsellors could be considered overpaid)

Yeah, Jim is just another Controll. So many of them around... Good lefty trolls are few and far between because the con-trolls just duck out of any debate where facts are brought up.

Implying that the majority of conservative minds aren't. Nice!

We need to stop giving subsidies to oil companies. We need to stop giving subsidies to corporate farms.

I did a quick check and compared my local public school and catholic schools. The catholic schools achieved lower grades where I live. In Secondary, most Public schools blew the Catholics out of the water too. I'll look at the full report later but, it probably comes down to the same old location of school and type of parents are sending their kids there. The difference in the two high schools was staggering though! The public high school (which is an old farm community school) is in the top 13%, the brand new and shiny catholic school is in the bottom 40%. Catholic schools can cost less, that is true. But it is often done by reducing the opportunities for youth to be educated on in demand or modern careers. By offering 4 forced religion credits they effectively kill the ability for medium to small high schools to run high quality skills courses relating to engineering, robotics and design of technology. I'd never send my kid to a catholic school, just because of the 4 lost optional courses for interest/career learning.

Source? or Stop talking out of yer arse.

Worst idea ever. "Hey, I have an idea. Let's sell a highway that is a sure fire way to make money to a foreign company." Everytime someone takes the 407, they export money to Europe. The only consolation to me was that at least the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan snuck in on the deal by investing in a spanish consortium (because Harris would have never have sold to the OTPP knowingly) to then buy into the 407. So at least some of the money comes back to Ontario.

Plan to fix liberal party: Get an attractive, charismatic leader with a smile. Avoid answering any hot topic questions, and any unscripted questions. Ban MP's from speaking, they are a liability, not an asset. When forced to enter the debate and tackle unscripted questions, always answer questions on your parties mishaps with "That is not how we see it" or "We see if differently"(Patented by Harper, may have to pay royalties) then change topic or try to appear as the victim of partisan attacks. Give a list of generic policies, and some ideological policies that evoke emotion and make people look bad for opposing. Law and order is a good one, who wants to criticize that policy and look soft on sexual predators?

That is because ideology is more often than not, not adaptable but people are. Politics reminds me of taking a philosophy course in Unversity. We sat and argued the merits of the extremes but in reality, the true answer was a compromise in the middle... a compromise that we never considered because we were only supposed to focus on the extremities. Spending on social programs, for instance. Spending too little leads to social decay. Spending too much leads huge inefficiencies and financial hardship. The solution is in the middle. Economic freedom. Giving immortal corporations full economic freedom leads to fascism and marginalization of the population. Taking all economic freedom leads to communism and lack of incentive to innovate. The solution is somewhere in the middle. One thing that many people forget is that Canada, all things considered, is somewhere in the centre of the political spectrum. Our parties have extreme elements, as any system does, but our policies are fairly close to centre.

Schools in Ontario do teach other languages with demand. Maybe not at the elementary level but, at the secondary level. German, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin etc. As long as there is a teacher to support it and student demand. Language based schooling, you choose your school based on the second language offered. There would be the German school, French school, Italian School, Hindi School. Instead of splitting up schools based on faith, it is based on language instead. That is all I meant. I disagree with teaching french only as well, it limits Ontario graduates. French will not be a powerhouse language in the future. New Canadians would benefit because that is their main hindrance, many Asian immigrants aren't fluent in English. If we had schools that used both English and their native tongue, they could fare better.

The separate school system should be removed. It costs tax payers more money in the inefficiencies of running two schools in the same neighbourhood. More administrators, more buses, more beaurocracy, etc. No one will touch it though, it would be political suicide... I agree with the more teaching days. Across all of teaching, though. I am an advocate for year round schooling with smaller breaks split up around the year. 2 week winter break, 2 week summer break, 2 week fall break, 2 week spring break. Many schools would need their AC upgraded for the summer though. Not so sure about the language based schooling, sounds like it would create more inefficiency but, would service new Canadians very well.

The video was pretty eye opening on the perspective of just how bad their economy has been hit. The problem is that Government spend money and initiate programs that are unsustainable when times are bad. Chretien did do a good job at, and rightly advocated that we maintain a lower debt level. I remember the rest of the world balking at his 'low debt' recommendation in the news. I just wish the Conservatives would stop promising to spend more money and actually stick with their mantra, it would give them credibility. It too often just ends up that they spend money differently.

You'd vote for a pedophile before McGuinty... But considering all options you are left with Hudak by default. You never specified who was more desirable, Hudak or Pedophile. I'd find it funny just the same if it was Andrea Horwath or McGuinty. I'm no fan of McGuinty, don't get me wrong. Like the federal election, I don't like the options for provincial. It will be based on the policies each party brings to the table... in the hope that they actually follow them.

I don't disagree with their statement because at face value it makes sense. I suggest that their integrity to govern should be questioned if they don't know what services to cut by now. I know a few obvious ones, like funding the CBC, should be on that list. Maybe they are spending a few million conducting polls to see what they can cut without people getting angry? They spend 31 million a year on polling... even then, because they spend so much taxpayer money on polls... shouldn't they know already?

Exactly Bill, that is why they don't run policies based on them. They pick their policies where the votes are. Just like the Liberals pick their policies where the votes are. No one is talking about the Conservative boogeyman except you.

I'm sorry you didn't get the joke.

Are you saying that the Conservatives are so grossly incompetent that they could not have access to the numbers or a good idea of what services could be cut after being in power for 5 years??? I doubt it. Their huge spending increases on jails and military can't be balanced. That is their problem. To balance the budget they'd have to break two promises. Why risk breaking 2 promises when you can risk only breaking 1?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-back-off-campaign-pledge-to-show-a-surplus-by-2014-15/article2018983/ Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says he needs time to consult economists and to draft a clear plan to deliver the extra savings Prime Minister Harper promised during the election campaign. We will do the strategic and operating review and we will book [those savings] once the review is done. That will get us to balance a year earlier, but is not part of the upcoming budget, Chisholm Pothier, Mr. Flahertys spokesperson, said on Wednesday. More in Link