Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Canadian Values can only be Liberal

H/T to Canadianna for pointing out this great column by Christina Blizzard in today's Sun - Defending 'Canadian' Values?

I hope to elaborate on this later, but a nasty cold is getting the better of me. Excuse me while I go cough up a lung.


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Update
: OMMAG said in comments that I didn't have to elaborate on this, so I won't. I just wanted to highlight what I felt was the salient part of this piece (because Sun links tend to disappear):

What is most troubling is the tone of McGuinty's attack on private religious schools. He seems to imply they are somehow inferior.

I don't think Jewish, Hindu or Muslim parents are going to make the kind of financial sacrifices necessary to keep their kids in private religious school if they weren't getting results.

No, I think this issue is turning on McGuinty. It is insulting for people of other faiths to be told their religious schools threaten the social fabric -- but Catholic schools don't.

Most of all, it is just plain wrong to suggest that turning a blind eye to discrimination is a good ol' Canadian value.


What I find most fascinating about this debate is that Multiculturalism is such a 'Liberal' value - encouraged diversity and such. Why the about-face, Dalton???


16 comments:

OMMAG said...

What's to elaborate?
This is the same nonsense that the likes of Dion and Layton have been spewing since..... well..... forever!
It's the single most offensive aspect of LIberal arrogance.

Or maybe after the self righteousness....
Or maybe the blatant sense of entitlement.....

I don't know about DiDi ... but Laytoon actually believes that he speaks for Canadians and shares our values!

Anonymous said...

Dalton and his campaign team are beginning to be an embarassment to Catholics. Such a hypocrite!

I'd like to know, given the Catholic school boards refusal to give Gr. 8 girls the HPV vaccine, because it's their religious right to promote celebacy, will McGuinty now cut funding to the Catholic system he supports for refusing to abide by government rules?

Maybe Dalton should stop listening to his advisors because more and more folks I know are seeing the McGuinty intolerance as damaging to him and his chances.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

will McGuinty now cut funding to the Catholic system he supports for refusing to abide by government rules?

Anon, I was thinking the same thing. Here is Dalton saying that the Catholic system is so harmonious as part of the public system, but any other faith would be problematic.

Yet here's an issue where there are moral differences. I'd love to hear him spin that one.

Anonymous said...

McGuinty's going to be doing plenty of tapdancing tomorrow. The education premier's getting a bit of an education himself I'd say.

Given the gaffe of his senior miniter letting the cat out of the bag that the Liberals are considering ONE SYSTEM. Whew. Who knew.

Didn't someone on this blog write that they'd heard McGuinty was in talks with the OPSBA about moving to one system? Maybe it's true and that's why the flip flop on funding faith schools?

Anonymous said...

Joanne - John Tory can use this to his benefit. We'd better hope that the brain trust at PC HQ takes advantage.

Oh, and McGuinty's scheduled to be on the Bill Carroll show tomorrow morning taking call-in questions. Call early and call often.

By the way, why doesn't the PC party have a position on MMP? Nothing at all at the main website.
Many questions and confusion around this issue. Many folks thinking that because they don't know more about it they will stay home on election day.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was common knowledge that they are considering amalgamating boards, especially in the North, which would end up being a single system in those areas.

The separate boards will have to adapt. I hadn't heard about the HPV thing. I think they should be required to accept any students, even at primary level. It doesn't bother me that they will teach Roman Catholicism, but with students of other faiths present, they will lose some of their more divisive teachings of the past.

Going from two to 200 boards, with the "public" being about a third the size it is now, only creates a fragmented system that will quickly become unsustainable, paving the way for vouchers.

Corporate education.
Then corporate health care.

Then the sense of entitlement. "Well if you can't afford to pay for good health and good education, maybe you don't want it badly enough, and so you are not entitled to it".

Anonymous said...

correction - it was Michael Fullan, one of McGuinty and Wynne's trusted education "expert" advisors who spouted off about getting rid of the catholic system and move to one system.

Michael Fullan, the same guy whose organization was on the receiving end of your taxdollars.

What a joke.

Anonymous said...

No kidding! I also read that Annie Kidder, the head of People for Education took a strip off McGuinty in a letter to the editor of the National Post for using a quote from her without permission and making it seem that she endorsed his gov't's education initiatives.

Anonymous said...

What's Dalton's hidden agenda? Did Fullan just spill the beans?

Anonymous said...

What's Dalton's hidden agenda? Did Fullan just spill the beans?

Dalton's hidden agenda isn't vouchers and corporate charter schools.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

I've heard rumours about McGuinty wanting to move in the direction of one public system as well. If that's true, why doesn't he just come out and admit it now?

Yes, I read that letter in the Post too. Link here.

Anonymous said...

I've heard rumours about McGuinty wanting to move in the direction of one public system as well. If that's true, why doesn't he just come out and admit it now?


What's there to admit? He is against fragmenting the system. Amalgamations and sharing infrastructure where it makes sense is in the same direction.

Keeping the historical separate system does not further fragment the system. Demanding that it adapt with the times and not discriminate against non RC students (i.e. allowing their parents to be separate school supporters without having someone certify their "Catholicness") is all that is needed.

We don't need more than one public system, and we don't need more than one separate system.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

and we don't need more than one separate system.

As long as it's Catholic.

BTW, here's some info on the HPV flap.

Sounds like Dalton got his hand slapped for running that ad.

Anonymous said...

What's the big secret? How about coming out and telling the Catholic parents, and school boards that he's looking to roll them into one public system. Why is he appeasing the unions on this?

Oh and give me a break. Dalton supports charter schools. Didn't his kids attend Samuel Genais in Ottawa which lobbied the gov't long and hard several years ago to get charter status?

Möbius said...

LS says,

"We don't need more than one public system, and we don't need more than one separate system."

Actually we need only one public system, not including funding for Catholics.

Why do you accept funding from one religion, and not all (or none)?

OMMAG said...

Actually the inference that I gather from McGuinty's pronouncements on education is that He is in favour of ONLY STATE RUN SCHOOLS!
It's pretty tough for a professional panderer like Dolton to take a stand ... especially if it might limit his future ability to pander to target groups on the issue.

Why this guy is not a political corpse yet is truly a puzzle to me.

BTW - LS your right about the unification of boards....but Just because something is PUBLIC knowledge does not mean it is COMMONLY known or that many people are going to connect that information to the current political debate. It would be helpful if the MSM would contribute some factual context to these issues rather than playing the role of gatekeeper for the issue of the moment and attempting to referee the public debate.