History Continues To Evolve

An anonymous comment in part:

"There should be schools for aspiring politicians, where they could go, to learn the basic rules of procedure, where they could participate in mock debate, where they could participate in creating a budget, and a whole host of other things so necessary to the political art, for art it surely must be; never science, never even rational."

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"Politics is the art of the possible."
 
We do have schools .Our investment in education is huge.

Every Canadian child should aspireto be a leader in whatever field they choose.

Young people should be learning  in school to be proud Canadians. To value citizenship.To appreciate that they live in a country with a Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Instead, the  Province  made history an optional subject. Why would they do that?

The Town's annual award to two students from each high school is for excellence in the subject of  governance. Former Mayor Tim Jones' Council supported my resolution to specify the purpose of the award, probably in 2005.

Early in Ontario's history, education was the  responsibility of municipal councils. People elected to Council tended to be
"Leaders of Industry"  They had little  interest in providing the children of their employees with an education.

It wasn't unusual for them to send their own children "back home"
to boarding schools for their education.

That's what makes Aurora  different and Church Street School exceptional.

The Province took  responsibility for providing education  away from municipal councils and created Boards of Education.

Local Boards had to be elected. They had  authority to determine the budgets required, Municipalities had to collect the taxes and provide the funding required. 

Public Libraries were  part of the education system.Trustees were appointed by Boards of Education. The Mayor was the only
representative of Council.

Library Boards also had authority to requisition funds.. If the municipality balked, Library Boards had the right of appeal to the Minister of Education.

The Ontario Municipal Board was created during the depression.when some municipalities bankrupted themselves with debt. Municipal debt  used to have to be approved by  The Ontario Municipal Board . Capital construction  always had to be debenture financed.

When York Region was established in 1971, it was the first change in government structure in a hundred years.

I was the last Reeve of Aurora in the last York County Council of the century and proud to have had that opportunity..