Rahman Mohamed
first published January 2013 in MacMedia, Volume 18, Issue 4

It seems as if the Education Premier in Ontario has finally learned that his time has ended.  Sure, he did bring in a 30% reduction in tuition, but it’s a grant that a lot of students over 30 can’t always get; there are even some students under 30 who can’t get it. And of course, he took away a couple of wonderful grants while he was at it (the one that was used to buy books and computers). And later he dragged elementary and high school students into the mess (he told teachers that they had to be healthier even though they were around kids who were coughing and sneezing, he said they couldn’t walk outside of the school holding signs, and then he started being a stubborn first-grader when the teachers tried to talk to him about it). But before that he brought the 4-year-olds into the mix. Why full-day kindergarten? Full-day kindergarten is just Grade 1 with toy blocks instead of paper. Start school with half-a-day then go a full-day; it’ll be easier and more relaxing for the little guys; just a bit more stressful on the stay-at-home parents and baby-sitters. It’ll even save money.

Mr. McGuinty, you did do a lot of good things, like banning smoking in restaurants, the Photo ID card for people who don’t have a driver’s license, helping a lot of my friends find doctors, and creating the HST (a good idea to bring in more money for the province even though I have to pay PST on everything now); and you did do some good things as Education Premier by making a lot of deals with the Teachers’ Unions over your term; but then you pushed it a bit too far; it seems you still have a bit to learn.