Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Dalton skips school

Clive has an excellent post up - Education Ontario 2 : The Politics, which captures the essence of McGuinty's hypocrisy here:

"If we let them have faith-based schools, they'll be intolerant," say the chattering classes and the media, without for a second appreciating how intolerant that is.


...Following from the last point, the debate has largely left the actualities of education in the dust and is now just about sowing division, fear and prejudice. McGuinty might use the E-word but the spin of his campaign is about religion and race. Education gave the Liberals the hook but they're no longer really talking about education; they're too busy pitting people of different faiths and backgrounds against one another. It's subtle, clever, deliberate, cynical and utterly shameful. But it works.

That is exactly what is concerning Lorrie Goldstein today - Education becomes the defining issue (Sun):

The premier has done a complete about-face, now arguing it would not only be unfair, but wrong to fund these schools. He isn't just saying it would be nice to fund them but we can't afford it, or that fixing public education must be addressed first, which would at least be somewhat consistent with his past statements.

Now he's saying it would be evil, that it will lead to children being "segregated and sequestered" by religion, which he accuses Conservative Leader John Tory of wanting to do through his election promise to fund non-Catholic religious schools.

To McGuinty, words mean only what he says they mean. Thus, they mean nothing.

He hasn't just flip-flopped, he's rotated his head 360 degrees on his neck like that kid in the Exorcist.


(I love that last line!)

Lorrie has also expressed his concern for this debate degenerating into political opportunism and racism in a previous column, Tory hits the hot button.


Which all brings me to this question: Why did Dalton McGuinty skip past his own alma mater, St. Patrick's and instead seize on a public school two doors down for his photo ops?


"We note with interest that two doors down, there's a Catholic school that is fully supported by the government of Ontario," Bernie Farber, chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress said.

"St. Patrick's High school serves as a model of how we can integrate other faith based schools into our public education system."

Mr. Farber and others have labelled Mr. McGuinty a hypocrite for excluding Catholic facilities from his attack on faith-based schools. Mr. McGuinty, his wife Terri and the couple's four kids all attended schools in the Catholic system. Terri still teaches part-time in a Catholic board.


So why didn't he check in at St. Pat's? Why indeed, why indeed?

Here is Premier Pinocchio's response:

"I've visited many Catholic schools during my [mandate]," he said in French, adding that the campaign "has just started."

"It's the second day, be patient," he said.


Sorry, Dalton, but patience is one thing I've run right out of.

Oh, and be careful not to trip over that nose on the your way out.


* * * *
Update: Please check out Christina Blizzard - To keep faith or to lose it.

...When he says he did not have a choice, he is not being truthful with voters," (John) Williamson said, calling the deception "corrosive."

"That is why a lot of people -- our group included -- have branded the premier a liar."

Sun - Dalton goes negative. Tory baffled by McGuinty's Attacks.


19 comments:

Anonymous said...

True confession. I was watching the London news just now. I had every intention of voting for McGuinty based on what I thought to be the truth he was suggesting about the conservative proposal to fund faith-based schools. After seeing John Tory explain what he's trying to do and how he's taking responsibility for his decisions and actions I've changed my mind.

I'm voting Tory. I like what he had to say about his plan. It was nothing at all what McGuinty, Kinsella and Cherniak are spinning....not even close.

It's actually a very clear-headed plan that respects the pubic system.

I'm going to try to convince more people to actually go to the PC website and read for themselves whgat the truth is instead of believing the guy who lied to them about his first 200 promises.

All of a sudden I feel like such an idiot for falling for the spin.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Anon, thank you for this very encouraging comment!

I think John Tory just needs to get his message out there. It will be a lot of work but I do believe that he can do it.

Anonymous said...

Hey Anon - I saw the AChannel interview here also, and what impressed me most was that Tory was standing firm in his conviction and belief in why he's proposing faith based funding.

It's not the monster that the liberal media and McGuinty's making it out to be.

I don't agree totally with the plan but I do believe in more school choice for parents. This is at least going to give more parents more choice.

I'm willing to live with that and send my vote Tory's way now.

McGuinty's the angry politician that needs fearing, not Tory

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Joanne!!!
Your secret's out.

J.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

That's bizarre.

Möbius said...

True, or not true?

Anonymous said...

Check out the mess at Kinsella's blog. First he insults women when with his baking cookies faux pas.

NOW he's insulting, well...go see for yourself. Anyone think Kinsella's losing his touch?

Möbius said...

Don't read him anymore.

He was tolerable during the Martin-trashing era, but that turned out to be just self-interest.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

NOW he's insulting, well...go see for yourself. Anyone think Kinsella's losing his touch?

Oh, man. And to think I even defended him during Cookie-gate.

Well, the gloves are off now, Warren!

Anonymous said...

I really don't see what all the fuss is about regarding the faith-based schools. In Manitoba, independent schools are subsidized, as long as they follow the provincial curriculum. When my daughter started junior high last year, my choice of school in my area was mediocre at best. I felt I had no choice but to fork out an extra $450 per month so she could go to a school that was safe, strict, and had far less drugs. We are not a religious family but this school is a Mennonite school. My daughter is being educated in a safe, calm, respectful environment and the bible class she gets hasn't hurt her one bit. Her friends who go to the public school said that after lunch all you can smell in the hallway is pot. So, until the public system can give me a SAFE, learning-oriented school, my daughter stays where she is. Has there ever been a study that compares violence between public/private schools?

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Thanks for that, Barbara. It's amazing how many good news stories I've heard lately about funding of religious schools across Canada, and so far everything I've heard is positive.

So this is working in other provinces, but in Ontario it would be the end of the world? I just don't get it.

Regarding your question of a study about violence, I haven't heard of any but that would be interesting.

Möbius said...

Barbara,

Are "religious" schools really much better than public schools? Anecdotally, I've heard that they are not.

Teach religion in your home, if you believe it to be beneficial. Teach everything else in public school. The government has no reason to fund religious beliefs.

In Ontario, the Liberal government now has a favourite religion, called "Catholicism", for which it funds education.

If we were to fund Jews, Hindus, etc., that would be "segregation", according to our honourable Premier. This is why you don't even start this stuff....

Möbius said...

Hi Joanne,

I've heard as many horror stories from Catholic parents about the activities at the Catholic schools as in the public schools (drugs, sex, violence, and yes....even smoking!). And that's just the teachers.....

They have nicer buildings, but not much else.

Anonymous said...

We have many Mennonite and Amish schools in southwestern Ontario. Schools registered right now as private with the MOE, BUT, they follow the MOE curriculum and there's a one in Waterloo that's got a waiting list for kids to get into.

McGuinty must have no faith(no pun intended) in the public system he claims to support because he doesn't want them measured against schools where kids actually LEARN something.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

BUT, they follow the MOE curriculum

I'm glad you mentioned that. It's my understanding that private schools of any kind have to follow MOE curriculum in order to prepare students for post-secondary education.

Anonymous said...

By the end of the campaign attacking Dalton will be like shooting fish in a barrel. Too easy and no more fun. As an observer only the hypocracy rolling off of him is unbelieveable. Cheers. SOR

Joanne (True Blue) said...

SOR - And since you are an observer with no axe to grind, your commentary is all the more appreciated for its objectivity. Thanks.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Excellent editorial BTW, in the Spectator - McGuinty's principles are etched in sand.

Brian in Calgary said...

By the end of the campaign attacking Dalton will be like shooting fish in a barrel.

From what I can gather, it could be a bit more like having the fish jump out of the barrel to land, already fileted, in the frying pan (no I can't take credit for this gem - I think I read it on Steve Janke's blog).

McGuinty's principles are etched in sand.

I like that witticism. Congrats to Andrew Dreschel if he was the one who coined it.