Niagara Region’s public and Catholic school boards recently got a rare, positive shout-out from Ontario’s Education Minister Paul Calandra. Calandra singled them out because their students’ performance test results led the province in the latest round of standardized testing. The tests, conducted by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO), are an annual assessment of […]
After years of well-documented problems, it appears the Ford government is finally getting serious about implementing some serious reforms to the public education system. In Ontario, spending on the public education system doubled under the Liberal McGuinty and Wynne governments, while student performance declined. Since 2018, when the Ford Progressive Conservatives were first elected, there […]
If you worry about government spending, it is easy to criticize the Ontario Government’s recent announcement to refurbish four nuclear reactors at the Pickering Nuclear Plant, located east of Toronto. The estimated price tag is a staggering $26.8 billion. But price isn’t all that has to be considered. First of all, Ontario needs more energy. […]
Ontario patients should send a thank you note to President Donald Trump and Quebec Premier François Legault. First it was news that American doctors, fearful of the political turmoil in the U.S., were choosing to practice in Ontario. So far, almost 300 have been cleared to do so. Then Legault passed legislation tying doctors’ pay […]
Wrapped up as Ontarians were in the Blue Jays’ Cinderella run to be World Series champions, they may have missed news that Premier Doug Ford’s government is going to scrap fixed election dates and increase donations and public subsidies to political parties. Elections are the backbone of a democracy so any tinkering with the rules […]
While Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra decides what to do with school boards, another controversy is dividing parents, teachers and school board officials – should schools reinstate or maintain “school resource officer” programs. The programs place police officers in schools to help prevent and deal with violence and to try and teach students that police […]
Premier Doug Ford, riding high in the polls, is planning to spend some political capital to dramatically change the way democracy works in Ontario. Attorney General Doug Downey is seeking to reform the Elections Act to end fixed election dates in Ontario, a practice that is currently in place in at the federal level and […]
Throw more money at it. That’s the solution mainstream politicians seem to be turning to as outcomes in schools decline and parents demand better. But if more money were the solution to declining outcomes in government-run schools, the issue surely would have been solved long ago. Take the province of Ontario as an example. Back […]
Alberta’s striking teachers should buy some snow boots for the picket lines, because it looks like Premier Danielle Smith is digging in her heels and this could take a while. Being paid $100,000 a year to teach school sounds plenty fair to plenty of Albertans and the province does not have extra money to spend. […]
School must be back in session as the days of discontent for teachers have arrived once again. Alberta teachers have been the latest bunch to strike in what seems to be an unfortunate Canadian tradition. Teachers really love to strike or have “job actions”- such as working to rule or denying students extra-curricular activities – […]