For some time now, I have had Brad W’s blog on my list of “education” favourites. Brad is a high school English teacher somewhere in Ontario. His site is professional, precise, thorough and technologically advanced. In other words, his students and colleagues are lucky to have him.
Anyway, for educators and English literature students everywhere, it’s called “The Lamppost” and can be found at www[dot]thelamppost[dot]ca/blog.
Update: I have had to remove the live link to “The Lamppost” because I have been attacked by a spammer – getting one or two comment spams every single minute during the last few hours. Since I don’t want this to be a permanent problem, I have turned off the comment feature on this and other recent posts for a day or so. So, in order to access “The Lamppost,” visitors will have to type in the URL manually. My apologies to Brad W.
While there is no doubt most parents and childcare providers in Ontario’s larger centres are delighted with the pending full-day junior and senior kindergarten program — usually referred to as the “Early Learning Program” or ELP – many in smaller and rural communities are not.
Why? Because, whether intentional or not, the ELP will:
Put hundreds of private and regional subsidized daycare centres out of business;
Mean huge Early Childhood Educator (ECE) job losses that won’t necessarily be translated into ELP positions, and
Result in parents actually having fewer childcare choices than they have now.
For example, read this article by Scott Dunn in the Owen Sound Sun Times. The title says it all: “Parents, care providers dislike kindergarten change — Bluewater Board plan criticized for making scheduling more difficult” (h/t Catherine).
Now, I am not against the ELP per se. Most parents I have talked to are excited about it. My problem is its universal nature and the timing of its implementation – a time when there should be a freeze on new spending rather than spending on new, plush programs.
However, as is usually the case with anything the McGuinty Liberal government does, it’s full speed ahead and damn the torpedos regardless of a $25 billion and ever climbing deficit. Instead, the government has committed to spending taxpayers dollars they don’t have on a long-term program that will involve highly paid unionized workers — and all that implies.
Sometimes I could swear Ontario has disappeared down the rabbit hole given all the magical thinking coming out of Queen’s Park. You can almost hear Premier McGuinty walking down the hall of the legislature, head down, muttering under his breath:
“I’m late / I’m late / For a very important date. / No time to say “Hello.” / Goodbye. / I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.”
Or, in answer to any question about the state of Ontario’s finances, the Premier says something like: ”you can always take more than nothing.” Well, they are not only spending more than nothing, they are spending more than they have, much more than they have, such as:
At least $1.5 billion on a full-day kindergarten program with both early childhood educators and qualified teachers for the whole day when each for half a day would make more sense, and
Potentially very expensive vote buying accusations in the Nepean by-election (to help Nortel pensioners).
Taken individually, apart from what it is going to cost taxpayers for wind energy, the expenses are perhaps worthwhile. However, this is the real world. No wonder, in her Toronto Sun column today, Christina Blizzard compares (h/t Jack’s Newswatch) the Premier and his caucus to the goings on in Wonderland and how things in Ontario are getting curiouser and curiouser. But, for Ontario’s citizens, getting out of this mess will be no tea party!
Yet, the Wonderland thinking continues as the McGuinty Liberal government’s Throne speech yesterday proved — which was apparently “promise rich.” As Alice says:
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn’t be, and what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”
Well, my fellow Ontarians, is that the kind of magical thinking government – with an ever climbing deficit and debt – you want to leave to your children and grandchildren? If not, think about voting PC in October 2011.
Call me suspicious, but it’s got to be more than a little coincidental that on the same day we learn that Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff wants Prime Minister Stephen Harper to call a full public inquiry into the Afghan detainee issue — rather than just a report by Judge Frank Iacobucci – we also read that the only way for the Liberal opposition to justify a federal election is to create a crisis (h/t Jack’s Newswatch).
So, does Mr. Ignatieff hope a full public inquiry would create such a crisis or scandal where he would be able to justify to Canadians: “Look, we had no choice but to declare non-confidence in the Conservative government?“
Well, if I were in the federal Liberal caucus or the Liberal Party of Canada, I would be very careful of what I asked for — since it was the Chretien Liberal government who sent our troops to Afghanistan in the first place and the Martin Liberal government who changed the rules for handing over Taliban prisoners to Afghan authorities.
Which makes me wonder: Who in the Liberal caucus or the OLO office are so desperate to get back into power, they are ready to push Mr. Ignatieff over a cliff? Is there, for example, a Liberal leadership coup going on behind the scenes? Read more »
A short time ago I wrote about the wind turbine proposal for the Lake St. Clair/Lake Erie area near Leamington and Pelee Island. If approved, that long-term project would involve the construction of some 700 wind turbines just off the shores of the two lakes — directly in the path of one of North America’s main bird migration routes.
Today a reader to that thread pointed me to a related article in the Financial Post, by Michael Trebilcock, a professor of law and economics at the University of Toronto (h/t MA). For example, here are just a few sections from Trebilcock’s column:
“First, as to the cost of wind-generated electricity, the feed-in tariff for on-shore wind turbines in Ontario provided for under the Green Energy Act is 13.5¢ per kWh (and higher for smaller projects). This is more than twice the prevailing rates for electricity on the spot market in Ontario (less than ¢6 per KWh).”
“Adam White, President of the Association of Major Power Consumers of Ontario, states: ‘The situation is not sustainable because it will leave companies paying higher rates than competitors in other jurisdictions.’”
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) is recognizing International Women’s Day on Monday, March 8th, 2010, by distributing a media release with a title that suggests women can only fully participate in the current economic recovery if they work outside the home and have access to a universal (read national), subsidized government-run childcare program.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not against women working outside the home and using subsidized childcare. I worked for most of my adult life and made use of a regional childcare program for a couple of years when I went back to school as an adult to complete teacher training. However, I also stayed at home until my children were ages 3 and 4.
So, I am not against women working, far from it. What I am against is duplicitous, patronizing messages that have nothing whatsoever to do with women’s rights. In fact, the ETFO press release is about one thing and that is more public sector union jobs. Read more »
However, my concerns now are not whether AGW is a fraud or not, it seems pretty clear that it is. No, my concerns are with Blogging Tories and other Conservative government supporters who are threatening to remove their support and vote in the next federal election unless Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Environment Minister Jim Prentice, don’t refute everything about AGW now.
Tempering demands with knowledge
Of course, we are all entitled to voice our outrage and our opinions. I mean we live in a free country. So, yes, by all mean, people should e-mail their concerns to the media, their MP’s, Environment Minister Jim Prentice and Prime Minister Harper. But, surely we should also temper our demands with knowledge and few of us are in a position to know all the ins and outs of governing a country the size of Canada – particularly in a minority parliament where the opposition and parliamentary press bureau are seizing on every small “gotcha.” Read more »
What a two weeks that was for pride in Canada. A sea of red from coast to coast to coast. And, once the sun went down on February 28th, it was fourteen gold medals in all. Let’s hope that pride and that positiveness can continue in the future. Below, for example, is a YouTube video of Prime Minister Stephen Harper being interviewed by CTV’s Brian Williams. Without a doubt, a leader, like B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, who did his best to bring everyone together to celebrate our athletes and our country.
A class act! Warm, friendly and approachable. Definitely a PM, that history will show, is one of the best prime minister’s Canada ever had.
Original post on February 21st, 2010 starts here:
The Vancouver Olympics 2010! Has it only been a week that Canadians from coast to coast to coast have been screaming their lungs out yelling: “Yea Canada” or “Go Canada Go“?
Actually, it seems what we are witnessing is historic, a type of boisterous patriotism that Canadians are usually too embarrassed to show — apart from the odd Team Canada hockey game. Yet, its not just about Canada. There are thousands of Canadians who are cheering even when athletes from other countries win the medals. Now, that’s true sportsmanship and hospitality!
I’m smiling as I type this, but could it be that we are behaving “positively American?” But, even if we are, so what? I mean, Americans think their country is the greatest on the planet. Yet, so do we and now we are telling the world that is what we think!
Another thing that has been great is the absence of political partisanship. A break in the gotcha journalism. I mean, former PM Jean Chretien ran into PM Stephen Harper (h/t “L” for the link to the photo) at Cypress Mountain and they actually smiled at each other and had a photo taken. Anyway, mark that event — the day Canada and its athletes were more important than politics.
Now, wouldn’t it be wonderful if that spirit continued? Yes, it would. But we know it won’t. The House of Commons returns in a week’s time and we all know what to expect. Sigh.
Well, let’s just enjoy the Olympics and our newfound noisy and proud (albeit benign) nationalism while it lasts. Here are columns by Rose DiManno (yes, I am posting a Toronto Star link) and Janice Kennedy’s (of the Ottawa Citizen). Both extremely positive.
Yes, without a doubt, the Olympics have brought all Canadians together — helping us believe in something bigger.
Go Canada Go!
Endnote: Our thoughts and prayers go out to Canadian figure skating champion Joannie Rochette, at the sudden death of her mother Therese this morning from a heart attack.
First posted on February 4th, 2010 and updated on March 2nd, 2010, my thanks to U.S. based academics Drs. Howard Margolis and Gary Brannigan for featuring my article on “How to write a college/university essay.“That acknowledgment is very much appreciated.
One thing is for sure, understanding what the revised DSM-V really means with respect to what is or is not an “autism spectrum disorder” runs the gamut. Depending on your source, it can mean anything from complete removal of intellectual disability (ID), pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) or Aspergers to inclusion of the whole spectrum — from mild autism to the most severe.
So, I decided to check out the most recent DSM-V release — which is due to be published in May 2013 . While I see criteria that could account for Aspergers or mild PDD, I do not see anything at all about ID or severe autism symptoms, apart from 1(a) which does mention non-verbal and verbal communication deficits.
So, in my opinion, without further revisions, change is coming and teachers, parents and practitioners need to be aware that governments and school districts may try to tighten funding eligibility for autism therapies like Son-Rise and ABA as a result of the proposed revisions. Particularly, since ID diagnostic criteria are based, not on the DSM, but on the Diagnostic Manual for Intellectual Disability.
Which is why I can certainly understand Harold Doherty’s anger and concern — although I don’t understand how an ID would promote more stigmatization than already experienced by the most severely disabled. Rather, I would simply ask: Will Harold’s son Conor, whether identified/labelled as autistic or ID have access to the community services he needs?
I would say a definite yes because an ID diagnosis would eventually allow Conor to tap into what provincial and territorial governments provide in terms of disability support benefits. It would also allow Conor to access other services that are available in conjunction with agencies like the Association for Community Living – such as group homes, supervised independent living programs, as well as specialized recreation, medical and dental services.
However, will Conor and others diagnosed with PDD or ID as a primary diagnosis still be eligible for government funding for therapy like ABA or Son-Rise? Obviously, that remains to be determined.
