Ontario Election 2014

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Elections Ontario’s slogan, “We make voting easy,” tells voters all they need to know about voting. What Elections Ontario doesn’t tell voters is where to put their X or check mark. That’s the voters decision.

On Monday, June 9th, 2014, the Ottawa Citizen editorial was dedicated to commentary on the June 12 Ontario election with attention to each party’s stand on the issue of separate schools. The Liberals, Conservatives and NDP have ignored the issue, but not the Green Party:

The Greens would merge the Catholic and public school systems, which they suggest could save as much as $1.6 billion. Even if that figure is high, there would likely be some savings from reducing duplication — and it’s the right thing to do.

It certainly is “the right thing to do,” and as the Globe and Mail points out “A principled Ontario premier would end funding for Catholic schools.” However, where would we find a “principled Ontario premier” willing to put his or her career on the line by dealing with this contentious issue?  Mike Schreiner, leader of the Green Party of Ontario, would be the obvious choice, but as the Ottawa Citizen says,

The Green party deserves credit for bringing up the issues the other parties don’t want to talk about, including the long overdue merger of the Catholic and public school boards. They have good ideas to offer on the economy and the environment, too. They’re not ready to form a government, but the Ontario legislature, especially in another minority, would benefit from the election of one or two Green MPPs.

Mike Schreiner should be one of the Green MPPs in the Ontario government. Schreiner is running against Liz Sandals, the Liberal Minister of Education who promised,

If the Ontario Liberal government falls over its provincial budget, Education Minister Liz Sandals “will be back on the street knocking on doors and defending the Catholic education system again.”

If you live in Guelph, vote against the candidate who defends a separate and discriminatory education system; vote for Mike Schreiner.

For more information on the state of education in Ontario, see the OneSchoolSystem.org pamphlet “Education in Ontario Today.”

h/t: Civil Rights in Public Education (CRIPE)