Author Archives: Sandy

Feb 22 2012

Quebec hides high school drop out & failure rates

Credit Microsoft Clip Art

Read this eye-popping column by Sarah-Maude Lefebvre of QMI. It is about why the Quebec Education Ministry does NOT release high school graduation and drop out data — even though the statistics are shocking. (H/T JNW) For example, Lefebvre writes:

“The province’s education minister, Line Beauchamp, said the policy [to not release drop out data] was introduced a few years ago for reasons of ‘sensitivity.’ ‘If we made the data public, one would realize that many institutions have a 100% dropout rate,’ Beauchamp told QMI Agency. ‘It would have a significant impact on the students’ self-esteem and staff morale.’

Yes, you read that right. Some high schools in Quebec have 100% or near 100% drop out rates –which, not surprisingly, have a significant impact on student self-esteem and staff morale. I mean, what do you expect to happen if more students fail high school than pass? How on earth are they going to be ready for the world of work and self-sufficiency? 

Okay, so what is the Quebec government doing to turn those numbers around? Not much it seems other than tsk tsking and saying ethics and confidentiality prohibit them from releasing data?  What absolute poppycock!  Excuses, excuses. How else can any school improve if the administration and staff at that school don’t know what they are doing wrong or how they might improve?

Frankly, the Quebec government’s entire approach to such reportage indicates, not only a complete lack of public accountability and transparency, but a philosophy of lowered expectations, what some might call bigotry and/or racism.

The crux of the matter is then, that if the Charest Liberal Government actually want to do something to reduce high school drop out rates, they could start by telling the truth and actually talking about real problems, rather than ignoring reality for reasons of ”sensitivity.”

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Endnote: When I was teaching in a Faculty of Education, I also owned and operated a private special education practice. My staff and I helped children, youth and adults who had learning and other related disabilities how to use learning strategies and technical devices to complete their assignments and exams. Most went on to succeed in school and life, even if it was only to take part in assisted employment.  Which means, that it is nothing but an excuse to suggest ethics and confidentiality prohibits the Quebec Education Ministry for telling the public why schools with kids in them that have disabilities are not graduating. They should be, even if they need assistance to do so. The failure is, therefore, with the school system, not the students. Meaning, the only breach of ethics is what the Quebec government is NOT doing.

Feb 21 2012

CAW wind turbine hypocrisy in Port Elgin Ontario

Photo credit CAW website.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who are the biggest hypocrites of them all? Well, you would be right if you answered the decision-makers at the Canadian Auto Workers union — which is ironic to say the least. I mean, this is the union who says they represent the little guy. For example, check out this CAW website. On the left sidebar, just like the photo at left, it shows a text box with a banner that states: “Fighting Back Makes a Difference.”

Except, when the fighting back is by an entire community against the CAW’s financial interests, then it doesn’t seem to make any difference at all to CAW administrators.

So, why are the citizens of picturesque Port Elgin, Ontario protesting and fighting back? Because the CAW is installing one of the largest and noisiest wind turbines available right in the middle of their town, and given what has been alleged, they are doing so by skirting around every rule in the book.  Why? In their own words:

“The CAW is erecting a wind turbine on the grounds of its Family Education Centre in Port Elgin, Ontario. The construction of this wind turbine is an important milestone in our union’s efforts to build a more sustainable future. A vision that was lead by environmentally-conscious union members and activists in 2003 is now coming into focus.”

Photo credit CAW website.

The tragedy is, of course, the primary reason the CAW would have chosen Port Elgin for its world class education and conference centre was because of its pristine beauty (as the photo shows).

However, there are grand visions and reality. As Karen Hunter wrote in the Huffington Post:  

Photo credit quixoteslaststand.com

“Despite all the places CAW could have located the mammoth structure, it picked Port Elgin, ‘considered — one of the leading recreational playgrounds in Ontario’ for an industrial wind turbine. CAW’s vacant 128-acre property nearby was deemed too environmentally sensitive. Besides, the land had just been subdivided and its lots stood to rake in $2 million. The FEC’s densely-populated neighbourhood didn’t have such sensitivities. 

The turbine’s proposed location was so beautiful, it posed a problem: the land’s picturesque, clean beach and nature trails led to its classification as a tourist and recreational community. Therefore, the turbine’s noise emission would exceed legislated standards. Not easily deterred, CAW found a quick fix: Classify the small tourist community as ‘urban’ on the turbine application since acceptable noise emission levels are higher. No one will notice. The scheme worked, and the Ministry of Environment (MOE) approved it. Voila.”

Photo Credit quixoteslaststand.com

There are other issues as well.  According to Hunter, the CAW is using non-labour to build the turbine.  And jobs in construction and related trades are being held up because people backed out of new home deals as soon as they found where the turbine was going to be built.

In other words, when it comes to the leadership of the CAW, it is do as I say, not as I do. I mean, can you just imagine if the shoe were on the other foot and it was the housing developer who shut out CAW workers? Well, we know what would happen don’t we, given recent CAW threats to occupy the London Caterpillar plant.

So, the next time you see or hear Ken Lewenza protesting about something he disagrees with (particularly how industries are ruled by their profit margins), stop and ask him why he is putting the CAW’s financial interests ahead of an entire community

In the meantme, it is obvious that the people of Port Elgin are not going to give up without the very fight the CAW tells other people to undertake to make a difference. And, while I don’t live near Port Elgin, but in the Niagara Region, I wrote this post to support that community from the hyprocrisy shown by the CAW.

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Endnotes: (1) For more on this topic, check out the archives at quixoteslaststand.com and ontario-wind-resistance.org, as well as this Google Search page. . (2) If the attribution to any photographs is incorrect, please send me the correct information or link via my Contact Form.

Feb 20 2012

Ontarians need another election, not a Liberal/NDP coalition

All of Canada needs to pay attention to what is going on in Ontario, because as John Ibbitson says, the province still sends out more in equalization than it takes in.

Why pay attention right now? Because the Ontario budget vote is coming up soon.

So, it is time the NDP and PC joined together and defeated the Liberal government. Yes, every party has campaign debts. But, that is beside the point. Ontarians were duped, particularly those in the cities who voted Liberal and essentially re-elected a failed government.

As Rex Murphy so eloquently says, the Drummond Report should have been before October 6th, 2011, not now four months after the election.

Anyway, check out this electoral map (which takes a few seconds to load). What you will see is an Ontario, as of October 7th, 2011, that has the NDP elected primarily in the north, the Liberals almost entirely in the City of Toronto, along with a smattering of constituencies in the GTA and the PC blue everywhere else in the province — in all the small towns and the rural areas. And, there is a reason for that as the photos above and below show, particularly the one with all the yellow dots representing wind turbines constructed right in the path of the north-south bird migration path.

From Ontario Wind Resistance Blog. Click on image.

Armed with the truth, I am certain that voters in Toronto and the GTA will understand what is going on regarding wind energy because they most definitely understand what it means to have their property values drop like a stone simply because of government policy.  

Plus, remember, the Green Energy Act doesn’t allow for a complaint or appeal process. So, if wind turbines are to be built on someone’s property or next door, too bad, so sad. That’s it. You can do nothing about it.

Well, given how activist many Torontonians are, there is no way in a million years that they would put up with being told to shut up while simultaneously being shut out.

Yet, Ontario citizens living in rural Ontario have had that happen to them and they are now stuck with the same government who did it to them –even though they did manage to get rid of several Liberal Cabinet Ministers on the October 6th, 2011 vote.

So, it is within this context that Christina Blizzard sets out a possible scenario today (H/T JNW) whereby the Ontario Liberals and the NDP join together in a coalition, formal or otherwise, to avoid an election — something many Ontarians would be completely against. This is not 1985. But will the prospect of power and the ability to spend overrule the NDP’s better judgement? Greece anyone?

Yet, ever the optimist, as I said at the start of this post, it is my hope that by some miracle, the Ontario NDP and PCs get up the courage to take down the Liberal government that has nearly destroyed us as a province – knowing that if left in power, “will” destroy us.

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Endnotes: For more on public anger over McGuinty’s renewable energy strategy, check out this action group’s blog, as well as this one. They represent just the tip of the iceberg of public anger. The turbines are not only a blight on the environment but, as the first link shows, they cost more to operate than they earn. And, they are based on an outdated ideology that the world is warming — a scientific phenomenon that stopped well over a decade ago.

If a reader has access to other similar links, just leave them in a comment for others to check out.