É«É«À²

To the Progressive Conservatives, education of our young people is simply a budget line. The second most expensive budget line in the province’s financial accounts. Their goal is to slash that budget line, just as PC Education Minister John Snobelen did in 1995 because wealthy PC supporters hate paying their share of taxes. They are the uber rich who can afford private education for their kids. The rest of the kids only need the basics so they can work in service to these oligarchs and their businesses.

But our children are precious to us, so how do they slash without protest? Take away parental voices. Get rid of trustees who represent those parents and the public. Change our democracy from Athenian to Roman where only the elite truly have a voice. In the 1990s Conservative premier Mike Harris reduced voices through amalgamation. Farmers were suddenly clumped in with town folk. Their concerns about the environment and development silenced. Premier Doug Ford did it to É«É«À² when he reduced the size of city council. It’s systematic destruction of democratic institutions. If it goes ahead, this scholasticide will one day be viewed as the most tragic step toward losing what was once an excellent education system and truly democratic governance.

Gail Rutherford, É«É«À²

Metrolinx cost overruns make the school board’s look like chump change

School board spending definitely deserves a review. But you know what else needs looking into? Metrolinx. Their cost overruns make the school board ones look like chump change. There’s enough waste there to address much of the funding shortfall in education and health care. And if school trustees are out looking for work, Metrolinx board members should have to join them.

John Gavin, É«É«À²

Ontario needs a serious, focused leaderÌý

Premier Doug Ford “slams” school boards for what he deems to be abuses but thinks nothing of spending taxpayers’ money on his pet grievances like appealing the ruling in court on bike lanes or hiding the cost of projects like Highway 413. His daily concerns hop all over the place in a very Trump-like manner. Instead of supporting education with increased funding, he has kept the funding of education at the lowest level in the country. He seems to have a particular fondness for promoting anything related to alcohol as his latest whiskey pouring stunt reveals. Ontario needs a serious, focused leader not one “as dumb as a bag of hammers.”

Diane Sullivan, É«É«À²Ìý

What does Crown Royal plant closure have to do with trade war?

Doug Ford pours out bottle of Crown Royal over upcoming Ontario plant closure, Sept. 2

It seems to me that Diageo is a company that is consolidating its Canadian operations. This does not have anything to do with a trade war. Diageo will continue to manufacture and bottle in Canada but will be moving out of Ontario. Does Premier Doug Ford really think they are targeting the LCBO? What consequences would Ford like to see in such situations?

Richard Blake, Mississauga, ON

No need to fawn over Carney but stop the nonsense

Mark Carney needs to stop placating the mad king and actually fight Trump, Sept. 2

Counter tariffs will not be useful on goods we cannot get elsewhere for the time-being. Furthermore, as individuals, we have plenty of power to shop for non-American produced goods if we do it en masse (even many Americans support this strategy). Yes, there may be a decline in our quality of life but that may even be good for us providing we protect our vulnerable citizens.

These are extraordinarily troubling times. I don’t think there has been a time in our short history where we have had to face such disturbing possibilities. So please, you don’t have to fawn over Prime Minister Mark Carney but stop the witless nonsense; he is under a lot of pressure and knows a lot more about the political subterfuge and about economics than the rest of us.

Deborah Crawford, Victoria, BC

It’s about time our government and industry stopped passing the buck on recycling

Grocery stores say it’s too costly and complex to take empties. How does the Beer Store do it? Sept. 2

So the grocery stores may not sell alcohol because it’s too inconvenient or expensive to recycle? Well then, stop selling it. Somehow consumers found a way to buy it before. It’s about time our government and industry stopped passing the buck on recycling. We have a huge pollution problem. Let the manufacturers and sellers make recycling happen. It’s worked for the beer store for a long time. Meanwhile, let’s put a deposit on the ubiquitous and unnecessary (in most of Canada) plastic water bottles too. I’ll bet people wouldn’t throw those away as nonchalantly as they do now.

Sal Badali, Mississauga, ONÌý

Alberta please ban my book so I am in the company of distinguished authors like Atwood and Angelou

Alberta insists it’s not a book ban as many classics are targeted by censors, Sept, 3

This is a plea to the Alberta Minister of Education. Please ban my Young Adult novel, “This Game of War.” It doesn’t matter what it’s about; there surely must be something in it that someone, somewhere, will find offensive, objectionable or inappropriate. For example, there’s a bit where the crew of a Lancaster bomber all pee on one of its tires before takeoff — for luck. There’s bound to be other things in the book that will punch someone’s outrage button, if they look hard enough. I want you to ban my book because that will put me in the very distinguished company of other authors whose works have been subject to bans: William Shakespeare, James Joyce, J.R.R. Tolkien, Margaret Atwood, J.K. Rowling, George Orwell, Judy Blume, Jack London, Maya Angelou, Stephen King, Anne Frank, Oscar Wilde, F. Scott Fitzgerald. The list is quite long, and I’d like to be part of it. Also, nothing makes people want to read a book as much as telling them they can’t.Ìý

Ed Butts, Guelph, ON