Blue Like You

Archive for September 22nd, 2007

The Liberal War Room’s clever manipulation of the media to remain focussed on the Faith-Based funding brouhaha has detracted from the real issue - How well are our public schools performing?

Some advocates for improving the quality of education in the Ontario public school system want to redirect attention back to performance, and to the latest release of provincial tests showing that another key 2003 election promise by Dalton McGuinty has been broken - specifically, that they would get “75% of all Grade 6 students meeting or exceeding the standard in provincial reading, writing and math tests by the end of their first mandate.”

In press release by the Society for Quality Education, Doretta Wilson states:

The Society for Quality Education (SQE) is not surprised that Ontario students did not come close to meeting the 75% target set out by the province. With only 64% of the province’s grade 6 students passing their reading test, an average class of 25 students would yield only 16 students who can read well enough for the work of the next grade. The results are even worse in writing, with only 61% of students passing, and math, with only 59% of students passing – down 2% from last year.

“Generous increases to the amount of taxpayers’ money spent on various initiatives haven’t translated into improvement,” said Doretta Wilson, executive director. “Test results have flat-lined compared to last year and, in some cases, the results are actually worse.”

Once again we find that the Liberal ploys of appeasing unions and throwing money at a problem do not necessarily lead to positive results.

There is even some controversy surrounding the possibility that these standardized tests have been “dumbed-down” in an attempt to improve the results and thereby make the current Liberal government appear successful.

As one of my readers recently commented, instead of being known as the Education Premier, we should start referring to Dalton the “Teachers’ Union Premier”.

Because as Sandy so aptly notes:

Yes, while Dalton McGuinty was breaking his promises to the people of Ontario, he was keeping them to the teachers’ unions.

Is this Canada or Mexico?

The National Post has an even more chilling description of the unbelievable nightmare that Caledonia residents David Brown and Dana Chatwell have had to endure.

The couple has now launched a $10-million lawsuit against the provincial government and the Ontario Provincial Police.

From this morning’s Star:

Campaign chair Greg Sorbara, key architect of the 2003 landslide when the Liberals won 72 of 103 seats to the Tories’ 24, predicted “a strong victory.”

“Certainly a majority. There is no appetite in Ontario to change the government,” said Sorbara.

Well then. Perhaps we should just cancel the actual vote. No need to bother, right?

Yesterday afternoon, I was listening to a phone-in show from Toronto where the hosts were asking the listening audience if Dalton’s broken promises made a difference in how they would vote. One woman called in and said she would vote Liberal no matter what; that they all make promises and everyone knows they won’t keep them.

Has it really come to this? Is a promise just a bunch of meaningless words designed to achieve some goal?

If we don’t even expect accountability in government, where are we headed?