LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Tories’ education plan isn’t good for students
Dear Mr. Smith,
As a constituent of yours and a retired educator, I am writing to voice my objection to the series of punitive measures your government has imposed on the public education system so far, as well as your proposed funding cuts. Your government wants to remove professionally accredited educators from kindergarten to Grade 3 classes and remove class size limits.
I simply can’t understand how you can support these punitive measures when you were formerly involved with designing software to create Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for Special Education students — software that I used during my professional life. Surely you understand how important early educational experiences delivered by trained professionals are for students to give them a good foundation for their education.
A strong public education system is so important in maintaining strong democratic institutions, and I spent my professional career working hard to help this process. In your proposed budget you want to drop a surcharge tax on the wealthiest residents of Ontario and penalize the young people of this province. I need an explanation. Ruth Bishop, Weller Street
Very little we can do to slow climate change
Greenhouse gas emissions are at the heart of the climate changes we see today. What can we do?
Climate change resulting from these emissions is a global, not a local (national), phenomenon. Yet from what I read, it seems implied that somehow we would witness a local mitigation in climate change if we were to cut our own greenhouse gas emissions. That won’t happen. However, our efforts might help Canada meet its emissions targets as agreed to in the Paris Accord.
So, how well are we doing? Canada’s target for 2050 is to cut our emissions to about half of what they are today. We are not achieving our interim targets, so it is unlikely that we will meet our final ambitious target. In fact, the Climate Action Tracker rates our progress on the Paris Accord targets as “Highly Insufficient.” There is one level worse than ours and four levels better. China is at our level, and the United States is in the bottom level.
Canada produces approximately two per cent of the global greenhouse gases being generated. Cutting this in half would have no impact on climate change. The big emitters, such as China and the U.S., who together generate about 35 per cent of the greenhouse gases, would have to make drastic cuts for the world to see any difference. They are not.
What else can we do? We are told that not shipping oil to the rest of the world will have a positive impact on climate change. Not likely. The consumers of oil will simply buy it from another source such as Saudi Arabia. They have plenty. Building pipelines will help our economy but will not alter climate change one iota. On the other hand, a boost in our economy might provide the funding needed for finding ways to curb emissions.
There should be no doubt that human generation of greenhouse gases is the underlying cause of the climate changes we see today and will continue to see in the future. Our civilization is at risk. However, it is sad but true that no matter how hard you or I try, we cannot slow down climate change. George Gillespie, Marsdale Drive
Education, health care need to be protected
With other teachers and parents, I attended the OSSTF gathering at our MPP’s office last Thursday afternoon. After listening to his non-answers, I asked Mr. Smith to commit to “no cuts or privatization” to education and health care. I also added that the answer should be “without any bulls ...”
His reply was that he wouldn’t “dignify” that question with an answer. I naively would hope he “dignifies” the citizens of Peterborough-Kawartha with a vote against his “government for the RICH people” when cuts and privatization are inevitably demanded by Premier Doug Ford and his inner circle.
After surviving the dark Harris years, I sadly quote the late, great, Yogi Berra, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” Dave Nickle, Murray Street
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