South Stormont ON - Education and learning is what provides light in a world of ignorant darkness.  I have had many opportunities to witness first hand just how dangerous it is when people, societies and cultures are ignorant of simple facts and lack common decency in seeing each other as human beings.

So when ignorant comments are made like many of the ones from Tammy Hart, it deeply concerns me.  The facts about the full day kindergarden program coming into effect this year are simple.  The school boards are choosing to  implement this on a much larger scale than what is being funded by the provincial government.

Whether this is a good choice or not is up for debate.  What it does is stretch staff and other resources.  It also raises the question as to where the school boards are taking the money from to pay for the additional offerings?  Of course the boards have elected officials called Trustees whose job it is to oversee budgets and spending on behalf of the tax payers who elect them.  These trustees are not the provincial government.  I am surprised that Tammy, an elected city councillor, wouldn’t know this simple fact about who is accountable for how the schools spend their money.

Perhaps what is needed is for people to take a greater interest in how our local taxes, school levees being a significant portion, are invested.  Perhaps we need to push for greater transparency and better reporting from our school trustees?

Respectfully,

James Borer C.D. – South Stormont Ontario

(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of the Cornwall Free News, their staff, or sponsors.)

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Cornwall ON - Long time School Board Trustee and politico Gerald Samson tossed his name up for City Councilor in Cornwall Ontario for the upcoming fall election.   We spoke with Mr. Samson briefly tonight at Schnitzels and will have the full story tomorrow.

You can vote for Mr. Samson and up to 9 other candidates in our poll below.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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Cornwall ON – Sometimes you’re only as good as the person pulling your strings in Politics.   It’s funny, especially in the Western world how much we attribute to a leader.

For example does anyone really think George W Bush actually could spell policy never mind actually conceptualize one and implement it?

I may not like Stephen Harper or his policies, but I will always give him credit for achieving and generally realizing his plans.

When he came to power he couldn’t overwhelm Canadians with the ideology he stood for so he tried going easy on the public for awhile and then he brought in his man.  The person he felt could drive his staff towards his vision or  at least the vision he bought into.

That man is Guy Giorno whom Mr. Harper made his Chief of Staff in 2008.

There’s a great article by Lawrence Martin in today’s Globe and Mail.   It even mentions Keith Beardsley our own View from the Hill columnist.

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n bringing in Mr. Giorno, whose way of relaxing is to slip into a straitjacket, the PM was tightening the bolts even more. The changeover may come to be seen as the turning point in Mr. Harper’s governance, the moment when the die was cast, when the chance of these Conservatives ever becoming a big tent party ended.

With Mr. Giorno came a-house cleaning. Out went the moderates. In came the true believers. Among those who departed were top policy adviser Bruce Carson, a veteran Tory of no fixed ideological address, and Keith Beardsley, who had worked for Joe Clark and Jean Charest. They were older, experienced men, both prepared to challenge Hr. Harper when they thought he was overreaching.

Politics can make for strange bedfellows indeed.   What do you think Canada?  You can post your comments below.

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Cornwall ON - In the latest Canadian Press Harris Decima Polls The Green Party of Canada with 12%; a strong showing for the Elizabeth May led party while the Stephen Harper Conservatives see their support fall to 31%.   The Liberals are still under 30% while the NDP push up at 18% and the Quebec based Bloc Quebecois stand at 10%.

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Another noticeable feature of the survey is that female voters appear to again be moving away from the Tories.

The gender gap had more of less disappeared over the course of the last two months, said Gregg.

“One of the reasons right of centre parties suffer from a gender gap is that right of centre parties are seen as risky, that is, that they are seen as more extremist, more likely to do something that is destabilizing or unseemly.

What do you think Canada?  Will we have a fall election?  Who do you think would be best to lead Canada after the next election and why?  You can post your comments below.

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Cornwall ON – Tony Clement had an opportunity to perform today in front of the Industry Committee. One thing that can be said for Clement is that he is always well prepared, knows his files and it’s hard to trip him up. In addition, he always surrounds himself with highly competent staff, who keep him well briefed and prepared. As expected, his performance was pretty solid.

With the government refusing to back down on the long form census issue, they will now have to endure another week of negative press stories. One can always tell where these issues originate. If a minister screws up and makes a bad decision or makes a poor comment, PMO comes down like a ton of bricks on that minister’s staff or even the minister. A clarification from the minister’s office follows shortly after PMO intervenes.

When PMO is the source of the issue and negative stories, all too often they get stubborn, dig in their heels and refuse to budge. A story that should never have been one in the first place thus stretches out over days. In the end common sense usually prevails and political reality wins out. A recent example of this would be the decision to back down on changing the words to the national anthem.

So far on the census issue several respected organizations have suggested ways to solve this problem to everyone’s satisfaction.  These solutions cover some of the contentious issues such as which questions are intrusive and whether or not completion of the census should be compulsory. Today the minister indicated to the committee that he would listen to suggestions from others. This is a positive move. Thus the government has a way out if it wants to move this issue out of the spot light.

PMO has been insisting that ministers are now responsible for everything that happens in their department. In this case it means the minister gets hauled on the carpet for a PMO mistake, but if this policy really does mean that the minister is responsible for running his department then perhaps PMO should keep their fingers out of this issue and let the minister find a solution that is acceptable to all sides.

Keith Beardsley is a senior strategist for True North Public Affairs in Ottawa, as well as a blogger and political analyst. He can often be found running or cycling on his favorite bike trails.

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Cornwall ON - The Harper government is now going after Veterans.  Not happy just picking on Census takers they seem bent on depriving veterans of care and support when they truly need it most.

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With minimum public attention, there seems a plan afoot to curb, cut or even eliminate Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), which has been sort of a comfort blanket — even umbilical cord — for many Second World War and Korean veterans in old age.

Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn has confirmed that downsizing is being discussed, but just how is unclear.

That’s what really bugs me about some politicians.  You say one thing, and then your actions don’t support that.  You can’t hug the flag and yack about supporting the troops and then cut the rug under then when they need our support the most!

Wonder how many new Fighter’s it would take to put the funding in to take care of those that have given so much to our country?

Veteran’s Affairs are something that will always be needed.   It’s time we Canadians stood up for our needs and rights.  I mean where does it end?  Medicare?  Culture?  Now our Veterans?

CLICK HERE to visit the website and contact Minister Blackburn.

What do you think Canada?  Are you one of the relatives of one of the 150,000 + vets that still need our support?  You can post your comments below.

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Newington ON - If you think Health Care in Ontario is bad, just wait till September when you see how badly Dalton McGuinty has screwed up our Educational System.

$1.5 billion per year is being spent on three and four year olds to attend full day/every day kindergarten.  Teachers making $70,000 plus, ECE’s (Early Childhood Educators) making $47,000 plus and EA’s (Educational Assistants) $30,000 all will be needed to run this program.  Administration will be required to record babysitting costs and attendance in the before and after school component of the program.  Trustees are already complaining of insufficient funding.  Principals are confused as to how the programs will be implemented.   Class room sizes are increased to 26+.  Education Assistants are being cut back, at the same time that school boards are implementing “inclusion” for all special needs students. Private daycare will be shut down.

Full day kindergarten was supposed to assist low income families by eliminating the need for daycare but the cost for the before/after component in most school boards has been set at unrealistically high rates ($29-$35 / day) which is more than most private daycares charge.  This rate is so high because the ECE’s are being paid considerably more ($24/hr) than most daycare workers are paid.  Thus the program which was to help the poor has been priced out of their reach by overpaying government workers to perform the same service that the private sector has been providing for less money.

Our education system will be in the same mess that Dalton McGuinty made our health care system…expensive, inefficient and unmanageable.    It’s disgraceful!

Tammy A. Hart

Newington, On

(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of the Cornwall Free News, their staff, or sponsors.)

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Cornwall ON - The latest round in the census story has seen the Chief Statistician resign. While not an earth shattering event for the general public, who probably didn’t even know the position existed until yesterday, it helps to feed the media line of a government in crisis.

Certainly at the political level, many staff consider this to be an issue that is confined to the “Ottawa Bubble” and one that average Canadians aren’t interested in and which they aren’t paying any attention too.

To a certain extent this is true. I doubt that Canadians will be standing around their BBQ this weekend wringing their hands over the resignation of the Chief Statistician. But that is not where the problem exists.

Governments or political parties are rarely defeated in an election based on a single over riding issue, generally it’s a combination of factors and the impression voters have of the party, its issues and the leader. There have been exceptions such as the Bomarc missile, wage and price controls, Free Trade and to a certain extent the sponsorship scandal.  More often than not, governments are defeated by the overall impression they leave with voters. This impression is formed over time, in some cases years.

A governing party certainly has to keep its base on side and that never changes regardless of which party is in power. However, to win and to win a majority they have to reach out to others who do not traditionally support them. These voters tend to be rather fickle with their support waning or increasing throughout a government’s term. These additional voters will determine a majority, minority or a loss for the present government.

In politics, perception is often reality. If a government is perceived by the public to be incompetent, a bully, stubborn, unwilling to admit a mistake or arrogant, then there is a good possibility that voters will want to defeat them. The census issue by itself will not lead to the defeat of this government, but it will help voters form an opinion of it and of Harper.

Looking at the government’s track record over the summer and so far we have the Guergis/Jaffer affair, a sole sourced multi-billion dollar contract, the census issue, spending on the G8/G20, the fake lake, comments from the head of CSIS, the HST deal with Ottawa/BC/Ontario and   the shenanigans by ministers at committee.  These events have certainly left the average voter with an impression of this government, and setting aside partisanship, is it the type of impression the government wants voters to have of its term in office?

This government is far from being defeated, especially with a weak Official Opposition, but it can’t keep making mistakes, especially mistakes of their own doing. Clearly the census issue got away from them. Their communications strategy wasn’t up to par; at least they should have been able to back up their comments with real facts and not general comments about receiving 1000s of letters when they don’t appear to exist. At the same time staff should have been aware well in advance as to who would attack them and how and have already positioned the issue to the government’s advantage, instead of fighting a rear guard action every day.

The government needs to put this issue behind them and move on to more important issues that clearly demonstrate their positive abilities such as managing the economy. This census issue is not a hill for them to die on, but one to learn from their mistakes and but behind them.

Keith Beardsley is a senior strategist for True North Public Affairs in Ottawa, as well as a blogger and political analyst. He can often be found running or cycling on his favorite bike trails.

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Dear Editor:

The McGuinty Government’s handling of the eco fees issue has been a complete fiasco.  There was no plan to protect consumers from being blindsided by these new eco fees on July 1 at the same time as the introduction of the HST.

The Ontario NDP support the concept of producer responsibility for the recycling of their hazardous, toxic products. However, putting oversight directly in the hands of industry is the wrong way to go. This fiasco has once again shown that self regulation by industry does not work.

The industry-controlled Stewardship Ontario should be replaced by a government body that is fully accountable and transparent.   The bottom line is that companies that produce harmful, toxic goods should pay the costs of protecting our environment, not Ontario’s consumers or cash strapped municipalities.  This would certainly give producers an incentive to develop products that are less toxic and better for our environment.

Yours truly,

Brian Lynch,

President,

SDSG Provincial NDP riding association

(Comments and opinions of Editorials, Letters to the Editor, and comments from readers are purely their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of the owners of the Cornwall Free News, their staff, or sponsors.)

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Cornwall ON - Former Conservative Minister Helena Guergis has been cleared of charges by the RCMP today.

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Last April, Harper fired Guergis as minister of state for status of women, kicked her out of caucus, and provided the RCMP and Parliament’s ethics commissioner with information about the activities that prompted him to take such drastic action.

Within days, Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson found no reason to open a file on Guergis and now the RCMP are closing the books on Harper’s complaint.

Hmmm…can you say bus tread marks?   Ministers serve at the pleasure of the Prime Minister.  You don’t need investigations to remove them, but what about removal from Caucus and preventing someone from running for office under a party’s banner?

So if Ms Guergis is not guilty of any wrong doing why the harsh treatment from our Prime Minister?  Why go to such bad lengths to just get rid of someone that displeased Mr. Harper?

What do you think Canada?  You can post your comments below.

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