A common feature of politics is repetition .
I've been reading a report on recorded votes in the last term. A motion and approved by Council, directed action on the surplus buildings on Victoria Street.
It never happened.
It will soon be twelve months since a similar resolution was approved by this Council ,four years later.
approved it. No progress reported almost a year later.
Provincially, Dalton McGuinty is trying to cope with trillions in debt, attempting to save public service jobs by asking the best-paid to accept a freeze on public service salaries.
Once again, we have Sid Ryan,spokesperson for unions affected.
He stated yesterday:"We should be grateful to Mr. McGuinty for bring every public sector union together like never before".
Mr Ryan is no doubt thinking of his triumph in bringing down the NDP in their first opportunity to govern.
Mr. Ryan has been a candidate for political office himself since then. Without success.
Previous to the last election, Mr.Mc Guinty boasted of years of labour peace during his tenure. That would no doubt be due to his generosity.
Which likely contributed to the provincial debt.
In the last election, Mr.McGuinty showed himself willing to squander one hundred and forty million dollars by cancelling a gas fired generating plant under construction in Mississauga.
It was being built to fulfill a promise in a previous election to shut down coal-fired plants at the lake.
The most interesting angle of the dispute between Mr. McGuinty and his erstwhile teacher friends is the fact neither refers to the particulars of wages and benefits.
To-day, a spokesperson for custodial employees said they were being asked to accept"less" pay to help the government solve financial problems.
I think public service workers in certain categories are the new millionaires in our society. They earn far more than they need to provide for families . So they can invest in businesses, property, stocks and bonds. Hours of employment are reduced to the point they can take second jobs to increase their wealth..
Collectively, the wealth of their associations could buy and sell several provincial administrations combined.
Power is money they say.
Well, they have the money.
With local boards of education, everybody had an idea how much a teacher earned, how much they thought they should earn and what was received in exchange.
Today's Powerful unions have something better than money.
Like the Pied Piper of Hamelin , near famous Hanover City with the River Weser deep and wide, washing its walls on either side, they can lead the children chanting and chiming in support of themselves against government in a struggle for dominance.
How appropriate is that?
People sit back complacently, having no idea what the arguments is about until such time as schools may close.
And nobody, including the press, has any inclination to dig a little deeper and reveal the details. .
Thursday 27 September 2012
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5 comments:
Too much all at once. Let me deal just with the first 2 paragraphs with a single question. If Council has repeatedly requested action on those surplus building, why has Staff not followed instructions?
And a follow-up. Whose job is to to pick up the phone or shoot off an e-mail to ask that Leadership Team when the report can be expected?
Wouldn't it be a novel thing if teachers were paid on the basis of performance?
This has been ongoing in several American cities and states with surprisingly positive results.
There's no point in kicking dead politicians and old failed policies.
People should get up off their asses and try to find replacements and look to the future..
Trudeau is not the answer.
If staff have not done something that they were asked to do, who's fault is it? Staff or Council? Did the direction specify a timeline? Was there any sort of conditions there that would prevent them from doing it? Why doesn't someone find out what is going on or not going on in this case?
Perhaps nothing has happened because there is a sense that if they were to do it, there would be repercussions because they did not do it right.
There is a mantra in my house. You can ask me to do something, or you can tell me how to do it but not both.
I'm not sure if we should look to the States for answers to the problems with our education system. But some Canadian universities are beginning to judge their teachers on the basis of performance. With mixed results as it is hard to equate a popular teacher with a more efficient one less liked by the students. And the voting has been a problem as only a certain # of students can be bothered. And they tend to fall into 2 groups, those who simply love the teacher and others who dislike everything about that class. Sound familiar?
It's not a question of liking the teacher or not.
Teaching requires that information is presented in an interesting and challenging fashion and is a two-way process.
It is a conversation between teacher and student dealing with subjects that can be made to relate to our lives. It is not memory work about mathematical formulas or the dates of battles and treaties.
Education must be relevant to the students' lives with examples that they can understand.
It's really quite simple.
But Ministries of Education, School Boards, Principals and teachers have no concept of what education should be. It is not surprising that today's kids in general are getting dumber and dumber. Parents are also to blame.
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