Candidates pressed on public education and health care
By Lavinia Kerr & Wes Keller

In a sparsely attended allcandidates meeting Sept. 18 that saw some hard-hitting politicking, Progressive Conservative Sylvia Jones found herself alone in her support of her party's plan to fund faith-based private schools.

Public education and health funding were the hottest of issues at a meeting in which the four Dufferin- Caledon candidates in the Oct. 10 provincial election were called on to respond to 21 questions at the Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event at Orangeville District Secondary School.

There could have been more questions, but MC Rob Rice had to call a halt at 9:40 p.m., which even then was five minutes later than scheduled.

On the issue of education, Jones pleaded with the audience of about 150 to consider that Ontario already has publicly funded faith-based schools in the Catholic system. She said it's unfair to other faiths to fund the schools of one religion to the exclusion of all others.

Besides that, she said a PC government would hike the education budget over three years to more than $15 billion, but initially use only $400 million of the increased money for new faith-based funding. She said other provinces, such as Manitoba and Alberta, successfully fund faithbased education.

Green Party candidate Rob Strang said he has every respect for the separate school system and its quality of instruction, but does believe there should be a single public system embracing all faiths, which would be more efficient.

NDP candidate Lynda McDougall, a longtime teacher in the Dufferin County and Upper Grand school boards, said the public system is already underfunded for its programs. She adamantly opposed taking any funds out of the public system. As well, she said children learn more tolerance for each other in the integrated public system.

Liberal Betsy Hall said the province "has a system that's working." If funding were made available to all faith-based schools, "we would be talking about hundreds of school boards in Ontario," with more transportation and facilities. She said it's wrong to compare Ontario with Manitoba and Alberta on the issue, since neither province is constitutionally required to maintain a separate school system.

She suggested that the Tory plan is meant to bolster the PC leader's chances in the ethically more diverse riding that he hopes to win in Toronto.

On health care, McDougall said the government "needs to make sure health-care money is coming to the hospital." She said the funding system must be corrected now.

Jones would establish clinics for chronic diseases.

Strang would support long-term care and a program for preventive health care.

Asked how they would personally address the regional health-funding system, Hall said she would do more than the local Tory MPPs "have done in the last four years."

Strang would "take hospitals out of the political arena. The (hospital) board should not be politically appointed."

McDougall would seek "fair" funding for the area. She said, as a high-growth area, more funding is needed here.

Jones said the funding here is $220 per household per year. The local representative, she said, is powerless when sitting across the table from the government.

Responses to a question about a minimum wage of $10 for "the working poor" were varied.

Jones said there are repercussions when wages go up. Hall said the Liberals have "expanded the economy" in the past four years and, in the meantime, raised the minimum wage to its present level and is committed to introducing more increases.

Strang said he has "never been (anywhere) where the minimum wage was less than $10. We are subsidizing hamburgers" by allowing fast food outlets to pay less, adding that if workers were paid fairly, there would be fewer social problems.

McDougall said people need an annual income of $20,778 "just to live on poverty level. Ten dollars would get them there."

Education dominated questions from the floor.

In all, the four party hopefuls faced 21 questions in the time frame allowed with others being turned away because of time constraints.

Of the 21, six dealt with education funding and the issue of the Conservative plan to incorporate funding for all faith-based schools.

The first questioner asked whether Ontario had the resources to afford funding for all denominations.

Jones began the discussion by saying Tory's plan doesn't introduce full faith-based funding until year three of the mandate and following a public consultation to decide what constitutes a faith-based school.

Hall said the issue was a question of affordability for not only basic education but additional buses and other related costs.

Strang said the Green party's platform is for one amalgamated public system. He said it is the most efficient, fair and ethical way to deal with education.

McDougall said funding is the issue and under the current system, although some improvements have been made, the funding formula needed to be improved.

"We need to look at education in terms of how much money is being spent on each student and that funding formula still needs to be improved," she said.

One voter said funding faith-based schools is a form of segregation. Another question echoed the thought and asked the candidates if faith-based schools wouldn't be a step backwards.

Jones said 53,000 Ontario students already attend faithbased schools and funding faith-based schools would bring everyone under one umbrella and ensure a standard education system for all students.

"I don't see it as segregation," she said. "We don't talk about segregation when we discuss Catholic education."

Health care issues were asked in four different questions focusing on quality of care, funding and the Local Health Integrated Networks (LHIN).

One voter asked if the candidates would support a standard of nursing care for seniors that would ensure a minimum of 3.5 hours of care daily in long term facilities.

All the candidates agreed a standard of care was important, Hall saying the Liberals have a plan that includes finding ways of assisting seniors who want to remain in their own homes longer by providing assistance in the home.

"We have to consider all manner of things in funding health care including standard of care," Hall said.

Strang said his party believes illness prevention is key and he would support a standard of care and support to keep seniors healthier, maintaining independent living longer.

McDougall said she supports standard of care and in Dufferin/Caledon it is important because it is a high-growth area with an increasing senior population.

Jones answered the question by saying she didn't like arbitrary numbers and although she liked the idea of standard of care, she believes it should be based on patient need.