Have you ever noticed that whenever the TDSB has to make cuts, they always start at the bottom and directly impact that most vulnerable? This goes way back to the time when they eliminated library assistants forcing school libraries to close when students most needed them, before and after school and at lunchtime.
Now they want to cut itinerant music teachers when countless studies have shown all the positive effects of music in students’ lives. Parents who can will provide music lessons for their children. Too bad for everyone else.
The board also wants to close school pools. Again, some students will learn to swim in private lessons, at camp and in their own pools. Others will have no chance to learn to swim, and some will drown as happened to a 海角社区官网student on a TDSB school field trip.
It is time to start at the top. The TDSB lists 41 senior staff. Each one of these well-paid people has an office and staff all of whom have salaries and pensions. It is time for the TDSB to examine all these positions, to see what jobs could be combined or perhaps even eliminated.
Maxanne Ezer, Toronto
Backward attitude toward the arts shortchanges society
The short-sighted and ignorant opinion of the value of music education is once again in the sights of school boards. Harvard Medical School provides abundant examples of why the study of music is so important. According to the work of Harvard Medical School professor Alan Steere, “over 70 per cent of doctors have received musical training. Both music and medicine require dedication, discipline and creativity.”
The horribly backward attitude toward the inclusion of arts in general in Canadian education shortchanges youth and ultimately society as a whole. Payment for private music lessons and the rental and/or purchase of instruments is beyond the financial means of many Canadians these days.
Albert Einstein said, “life without music is inconceivable.” He began playing the violin at age six, making the instrument a constant companion throughout his life. Einstein considered his study of music an important pathway to his scientific discoveries. Let’s not let any Einsteins slip through our education system for lack of opportunity.
Julia Bowkun, Toronto
Ford needs to stay out of the courts
Doug Ford vows to appeal injunction preventing removal of 海角社区官网bike lanes, April 30
May I remind Premier Doug Ford that a democratically elected government did approve the ruling 鈥 the city of Toronto. It is outrageous for Ford to suggest Ontario copy American-style politics and have judges voted in. It is outrageous that a politician thinks he can determine what the courts decide. Ford, stay in your lane and stay out of the courts.
Laura聽Fehr, Mississauga
Leave bike lanes to the cities
Premier Doug Ford says, 鈥淛udges should not determine items like bike lanes.鈥 Neither should provincial premiers, especially when it appears he鈥檚 specifically targeting bike lanes along the routes he regularly drives. The premier should determine issues that affect the province, and cities should determine the bike lanes in their municipalities.聽
Jil McIntosh, Oshawa
Ford is showing his Trumpian instincts
Once upon a time principled politicians would shrink from criticizing the judiciary and promoting their partisan views, but Premier Doug Ford can鈥檛 help revealing his instincts aren鈥檛 that removed from the autocrat to the south.
Avoiding checks and balances may sound good to the Preston Mannings, Danielle Smiths and other dog-whistlers, but if our American friends are to survive their current nightmare, it will be in large part because their courts and independent institutions held in the face of the bully pulpit.聽
Joe Wright, Toronto
A minority government is not unstable
Jaime Watt is incorrect when he suggests that Mark Carney cannot or should not negotiate with U.S. President Donald Trump because of his Liberal party鈥檚 minority status in Parliament. We all know that almost every Canadian is unwaveringly opposed to Trump when it comes to his threats to Canada鈥檚 sovereignty and to his trade war. The Prime Minister has that strength behind him in negotiations.
Watt also wrote 鈥淎 minority government isn鈥檛 just unstable 鈥 it鈥檚 dangerous in the current climate.鈥 That鈥檚 nonsense. No one is going to topple the government in the foreseeable future.
By the way, minority government is not unstable; western European democracies have worked with minorities for many decades, and it works well. In Canada, we had one for four years. The real problem is that representation in the House of Commons does not reflect how people voted. Currently, it does not. 鈥淢ajority鈥 governments that are almost always formed by political parties that most voters didn鈥檛 want, and THAT is a problem.
John Stillich, Innisfil, ON
Canada has enjoyed some of the best times with minority government
The victory of the Liberals in the past election has sent a firm message to the world that Canada is not about to be bullied by U.S. President Donald Trump or deceived by Pierre Poilievre. Although there appear to be splits in the voting, Canada has always managed to find a peaceful and democratic solution when regional differences are exposed. The demographics have changed, the mood of the public has changed, but the peaceful and dignified acceptance of the results of the election has not changed.
Despite the warnings and the “clutching of pearls” of so-called pundits, Canada has enjoyed some of the best times with minority government. This only works when those elected by the people act in the people’s best interest, not on their political ambitions. When faced with an existential threat such as the rise of populism around the world and the increasing influence of China, many Canadians chose to forego old feuds and politically simplistic sloganeering deciding instead to look forward, electing a leader and a party that is well prepared to tackle the issues which arise.
As soon as the results were announced, messages of congratulations arrived from leaders worldwide. It helps when our Prime Minister has had professional and friendly relationships with most of them. When we look at the situation in the U.S., the “bizzaro world’ of the second coming of Trump, the “buyers regret” of those who voted for him becomes more evident as every day reveals another blunder, another embarrassment.
Richard Murri, Niagara Falls, ON
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