I received the following as a reply to the questions I sent to Ottawa South candidates. Mr. McGuinty was only one of two candidates who replied thus far, and I'm thankful that he and his team took the time to reply.
While Mr. McGuinty is the incumbent Premier, his campaign isn't all that unique. He is in one of those majority of Ontario ridings that are safe seats for the incumbent parties (effectively "appointed" by the parties to Queens Park), and like all party leaders and cabinet ministers, and issue has province-wide duties. His campaign would be ideal for an election with province-wide seats under an MMP system, but unfortunately we haven't made that modernization yet. We are stuck in Ottawa South with someone that for obvious reasons needs to focus on province wide issues, and is thus not able to do as good a job on local issues as a local candidate would.
He only provided a response to one of the categories I was interested in, faith based funding. We all know he opposes extending separate school funding beyond Catholic schools, but he seemed unwilling to answer the specific question which was merging the existing separate schools into the public system.
I didn't expect him to answer the question on MMP. It shouldn't be surprising that the leader of one of the two parties that most unfairly benefit from the antiquated voting system would not be strongly in favor of a modernization to make the system more fair to voters.
Dear Mr. McOrmond:
Thank you for writing to me about education funding in our province. I appreciate the opportunity to hear your views on this issue.
I firmly believe that nothing is more important to building the caring and compassionate society we want to build, and the strong economy we need to sustain it, than publicly funded education. And Ontario Liberals remain committed to ensuring that children from all walks of life get an excellent education — and the opportunities they need to succeed.
Over 95 per cent of all Ontario students, including the majority of students of every faith, attend publicly funded schools. These schools are the product of our history, and a reflection of our diversity. But, if private religious schools were to be funded by the Province, it would mean diverting half a billion dollars from the schools attended by that overwhelming percentage of Ontario children. It would also mean that their education, and their future, would be compromised.
After four short years — following over a decade of cuts and conflict under the Conservatives, and the NDP before them — things in Ontario’s publicly funded schools are better. Working with Ontarians, we have made real progress for the two million children who attend those schools: class sizes are down, test scores are up and more students are graduating. And there is finally peace, stability and a new spirit of optimism in our classrooms.
Ontario students cannot afford, and do not deserve, to go back to the days of deep budget cuts, overcrowded classrooms, crumbling schools and teachers’ strikes. But, the reality is that diverting half a billion dollars from publicly funded education to private religious schools would take them right back to those days of cuts and conflict. I believe it would be unfair — and not in the public interest — to jeopardize the education and future of the vast majority of our children.
We have come a long way in strengthening publicly funded education, but there is much more work to do. While I have the greatest respect for your views, and for those of the other hard-working families who make sacrifices to send their children to faith-based schools, Ontario Liberals remain firmly committed to continuing to restore confidence in and stability to publicly funded education.
Mr. McOrmond, thank you again for writing. Please accept my best wishes.
Yours truly,
Dalton McGuinty
Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party
Premier
