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Teachers from Land O’Lakes and Clarendon Central Public Schools were on the “morning shift” of picketing at Granite Ridge Education Centre Tuesday morning in Sharbot Lake.

“We opted for a more visible location,” said picket captain Danielle Harding. “The GREC elementary teachers will take the afternoon shift and we’ll switch shifts tomorrow (Wednesday).”

Secondary teachers are scheduled to picket Thursday.

Much like their secondary counterparts, class size is a huge issue for the elementary and intermediate teachers.

“They (the Ministry of Education) want to remove all language involving class size,” Harding said. “That would have a big impact on special needs students, who don’t get the attention they need now.”

They also don’t want to see changes to kindergarten programs and are deeply concerned about the Local Priority Funding program not being renewed.

In the 2017 contract extension, $56 million was added to hire teachers and early childhood educators so that class sizes could be reduced to a cap of 30 students in the first year in most full-day kindergarten the first year of the contract and 29 in the second.

Also, that contract extension included funding resulting in a four-per-cent salary increase for teachers over two years.

And while there is a 1 per cent salary increase on the table this time around, that’s not why the teachers are out picketing, Harding said.

“It is a contract negotiation, so it’s in there, but it’s not what we’re fighting for,” she said. “We’ve already lost that increase from picketing days.

“We would be the worst mathematicians ever if we were to strike over 1 per cent.

“We want them to say they won’t change the kindergarten formula.”

In all, they say cuts to education funding totalling $235 million will affect all students but particularly at-risk and special needs students.

Harding said they’ve been bolstered by the support they’ve received, particularly from parents.

“A lot of parents have dropped off treats . . . we like the treats,” she said. “Some have even dropped off non-perishable goods and we’ll see they get to the food bank.”

There did seem to be a lot of public support Tuesday morning with a high percentage of passing cars honking.

One driver, Dave Hansen in his red Ford F150, noticed a painting of Premier Doug Ford eating an apple on one of the picket signs, rolled down his window and called out: “Fords don’t last forever, you know.”

Published in CENTRAL FRONTENAC
Wednesday, 12 February 2020 12:42

LPS Teachers Begin Two-day Walkout with Music

LPS teacher Al MacDonald and some of his fellow Loughborough Public School teachers pulled together an ‘ad hoc’ musical group to entertain passers-by and SHS-across-the-road on Tuesday. And to keep up their own spirits on a chill, grey day when they would have much preferred to be inside with their classes.

Never mind that the drummer had played drums only twice before and ‘Strike Pay’ as a group has no intent to take their show on the road: their music’s gleefully familiar, and the words are sharp and sassy. For example: “Pants on Fire” (thanks to Johnny Cash), and Sounds of Silence rewritten as “We Won’t Be Silent”: “And people honked and waved/to the neon signs we waved/ and the snow flew hard this morning/my face is frozen, frostbite forming/And the sign said the cuts hurting kids/are gonna hurt for years/ Mr Buck-a-Beer/ And we won’t be silent.”

Strike line teachers were unanimous in their dismay about the Provincial government’s intent to save money at the expense of children who need extra time and attention: “It’s not just the high needs children who will suffer; the whole classroom ends up not getting the best learning situation,” said one.

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC

RED is back.

The program which provides matching grants for economic development initiatives in rural Ontario, was used by the Land O’Lakes Tourist Association (now defunct) to maintain its operations for many years, and by Frontenac County to establish a community development officer position several years ago.

At the annual Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference in Toronto this week the provincial government announced that a relatively modest $5 million in grants will be available from RED at this time, under two streams.

Organisations located in over 400 rural municipalities in Ontario are eligible to apply for a share of the funding.

The first stream is the Economic Diversification and Competitiveness stream which provides a maximum of $150,000 to cover 50% of eligible project costs. The second is the Strategic Economic Infrastructure stream which provides a maximum of $250,000 to cover up to 30% of eligible project costs.

Municipalities, not-for-profit corporations, indigenous communities or organisations, and local service boards are eligible to apply for funding. The application deadline for the program is February 24th. Priority will be given to projects that are supported by a partnership between two or more organisations. Under the economic infrastructure stream, projects that were already under consideration before the application period got underway this week will be given priority.

Local municipalities will likely be talking about applying for funding when they meet in the coming week or two.

The ROMA conference was held in Toronto between Sunday, January 19th, and Tuesday, January 21st.

Published in FRONTENAC COUNTY

Last week, the Province of Ontario confirmed the annual funding for infrastructure needs, that they provide to rural Ontario municipalities, in the run up to the annual Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference.

The Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund was established under the former Liberal government in 2014 to provide funding to small, rural and northern municipalities in order to help them “build and repair critical infrastructure”.

The funding was minimal in the first couple of years, but doubled in the run-up to the 2018 provincial election. After the election, which saw the vast majority of rural ridings elect Conservative MPP’s, the program has doubled once again.

In Frontenac County, most of the money goes directly to the townships, which have responsibility for just about all of the municipal infrastructure, which is dominated by roads and bridges.

South Frontenac, which has already passed its 2020 budget based on estimates, will receive $508,412 for 2020, up from $498,738 in 2019.

Central Frontenac will receive $361,718, down from $368.076 in 2019.

North Frontenac will receive 304,907, down from 310,472

Frontenac County received $50,000, the same as last year.

In Lennox and Addington (L&A), the county level of government has more infrastructure responsibilities than the local townships. L&A will receive 761,841 this year. In 2019 they received $758,478.

Addington Highlands Township will receive $54,461 this year. In 2019, they received $55,084.

Rural municipalities also receive funding each year under the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) based upon a formula that looks at population as well as fiscal circumstances. OMPF is crucial to the smallest municipalities.

For 2020 Addington Highlands will receive $2,053,400 ($743 per household) the same as 2019.

Central Frontenac will receive $2,148,900 ($520 per household) about the same as last year.

North Frontenac gets $1,705,200 ($499 per household) down about $700 from last year.

South Frontenac will receive $1,553,400 ($148 per household) also about the same as 2019.

Published in General Interest

Although unplanned and unexpected, my exile in March turned out to be a refreshing deliverance from a political party and a caucus that had devolved into a “Lord of the Flies” re-enactment, distant from the statement of principles encoded in the Progressive Conservative Party’s constitution.

 

The Ontario PC Party, after the 2018 general election, soon devolved into a primitive tribe where domination and authority was its sole purpose and objective. Where fealty to a mysterious elevated authority was demanded. Not just domination of the caucus, but of other tribes in the Legislative Assembly, municipal councils, media, police, and advocacy groups.

 

However, these actions are not the exception to the rule, but with regularity the rule of every governing party, as witnessed with the federal Liberals and the affair Wilson-Raybould, SNC-Lavalin, and the Vice Admiral Norman debacles. Often, the same holds true for all parties, whether in power or seeking to obtain power, with some deviation either in frequency or magnitude.

 

While I always chafed somewhat under the constraints of partisan politics, it was generally a healthy and robust relationship where we found common ground, even while holding differing opinions on either policy, communications, or strategy. I know this caused some tensions, however, important policies and laws that impact millions of people ought to bring out the best arguments and be debated with passion and vigour.

 

After the 2018 Ontario general election, as an Ontario PC, we found ourselves in a place where dissent, disagreement, or diversity was evidence of disloyalty and a weakness to the tribe, and resulted in censure, admonishment, and in some cases, exile. It was a real life replication of the “Lord of the Flies.”

 

Life as an independent member is not only far more civilized, but also more rewarding and productive. My exile has also reawakened my belief that people from different backgrounds, with different perspectives, and different ideologies, can indeed work together effectively, without rancour, discord, or malice.

 

While there were 11 elected representatives who are without a recognized party in the assembly, they were elected under three party brands, Liberal, Green, and Conservative. All 11 are considered independent members of the house, although only three are not associated with a registered party.

 

Astonishingly to many, these 11 independent members have found ways to work together to reform the standing orders of the house, share opportunities on standing committees, and share time for debates, statements, and questions. All without any one person or group having authority nor dominance over any others.

 

As a member of this civilized and respectful independent group, I am free to both criticize and applaud a government policy, bill, or initiative. I have the unfettered liberty to vote in a manner that is consistent with my conscience, and as I believe my constituents expect.

 

No longer are questions or talking points handed to me along with the instructions to deliver on the party’s behalf; to bolster their narrative and party brand to the detriment of representation. Rather, I am free to examine and evaluate any and all subjects through the lens of a representative of my community.

 

I no longer have to look over my shoulder when speaking with another elected member, or have people reporting back to an overlord when I speak with a journalist. All these previously seen as indicators or proof points of suspicious, disloyal activity with conspiratorial undertones.

 

There can be value in being a member of a caucus, so long as it respects democracy and representative government, rather than being a primitive, authoritarian political tribe. However, it is a breath of fresh air being an independent member, when the alternative fails.

Published in Editorials

For a time in the winter, Randy Hillier, the outspoken MPP for Lanark Frontenac Kingston, made headlines across the province when he was suspended and then permanently removed from the ruling Progressive Conservative Party caucus.

He says that he can trace when things began to turn sour between him and the “leadership of the party”, Doug Ford and his closest advisers within the Premier’s office.

It was over a year ago, during the election campaign. Hillier had become convinced that the Liberal Party were losing support, but that their supporters were not sure where to take their vote, partly because of unease over Doug Ford’s political history and lack of experience in provincial politics.

“I told the people who were running the campaign that we needed to convince people to vote for Doug Ford. I told them that I had been part of three losing campaigns and we needed to make sure we did not lose again.”

Not getting the response he was looking for, Hillier took matters into his own hands and posted a home-made video that featured himself, a Dodge Truck and the Ford brand name.

“It got a hundred thousand views and there was nothing in it that contradicted our election message, but the central campaign did not like that I had taken it upon myself the make it and post it.”

Later in the summer, after the party had been elected, he had an interaction with then Chief of Staff to Doug Ford, Dean French, at a party BBQ.

“He told me straight off that he wanted me out of caucus,” Hillier recalls.

Hillier was suspended from caucus this winter for saying “yada, yada, yada” to an NDP MPP after question period, something that he calls “standard fair at Queen’s Park that was twisted into being a pretext to remove me from caucus.”

His riding association has expressed its support for him, even after his suspension had become an expulsion, and over the last few months he has been revelling in his role as an Independent MPP, and has felt free to criticise aspects of government policy on his Twitter feed and elsewhere. He does not feel that the riding has or will lose out because he is not on the government benches.

“When I was in opposition the riding never lacked for support, that hasn’t changed ... I’ve got a good relationship with cabinet and my former colleagues; the relationships are strong.”

He will not rule out running for the Conservative Party in the next election, and remains a member of the party, but says “under the current leadership” he will not seek the nomination.

“I would like to see the leadership in the PC Party be different down the road to the extent that I would want to join. I will not associate myself with people who lack ethics and integrity.”

He added that he is not certain that Premier Ford will still be leading the PC party by the time the next election comes around.

“It is unprecedented for a government to fall so low in only one year after winning a majority. Everyone learns from their experience but will they learn well, or will they just double down. The premier came out and said that he thinks people don’t care about nepotism. I think he is wrong about that.”

Hillier has not had an easy relationship with former leaders of the Conservative Party as well. He was suspended from caucus under Tim Hudak, and was one of the strongest voices against Patrick Brown, raising questions about his ability to function within a party.

He said, however that he recognises that in order to work within a party, MPP’s need to refrain from commenting in some cases.

“Although I accept that your independence is curtailed when you are in a party and a caucus, there are limits. When you are elected you need to represent your constituents’ interests and political parties have to understand that. And if you want the party system to work well, there has to be some level of tension, some ability to challenge the policies that the leadership comes up with. You are not being disloyal just by challenging decisions that are being made.”

He supports some of the initiatives that have been undertaken by the Ford government, particularly the efforts that are underway to achieve healthcare reform.

“I have been to meetings in my riding where people from various parts of the healthcare sector have been working to come up with proposals that will work better for their patients, trying to fix a broken system,” he said.

But others, such as the changes in funding for autism, he said he cannot abide by.

“You’ve got to set your priorities, and one of the priorities I have always believed in is that you should spend money for those who are so disadvantaged that they cannot fend for themselves. But to provide $35 million to Maple Leaf Foods to built a plant and a week later limit eligibility for autism funding for so many families, is difficult to support.”

As an Independent MPP, he said that he is still able to help his constituents navigate the government bureaucracy.

“Often, it is a matter of calling the right people within a ministry and making the right argument. I had a case last week, when an individual who produces mobility devices had a long-standing problem getting paid by the Ministry of Health. We were able to sort that out.”

This summer Randy Hillier is taking a few days off to spend time with his 6 young grandchildren, but will be out in the riding for the rest of the summer meeting with constituents. He will also be monitoring government announcements and taking to Twitter to express his unbridled opinions, just as he did when he was an opposition MPP.

Published in General Interest

Doug Ford has never been accused of being subtle, and during the first 9 months of his mandate as premier, signals about the government’s intention to change provincially delivered and/or funded services in Ontario have been crystal clear, as is their commitment to exercising the Province’s authority to force change onto Ontario municipalities.

One of his first acts was to cut the number of politicians in the City of Toronto, and he did it in the middle of a municipal election campaign, demonstrating not only his disdain for Toronto City Hall, but also that the Province of Ontario does indeed have the authority to make whatever changes it wants to make, to both the size and the mandate of municipal councils.

Questions about whether that zeal for change will extend to rural Ontario governance, are now being answered. Education and healthcare are being revamped, as well as the makeup of larger municipalities, as is the funding for services that are partially funded by the Province but delivered by municipalities. The only reasonable conclusion would seem to be that municipalities, as they exist today, will no longer exist by the time the next provincial election rolls around.

As we have been seeing recently in regards to Paramedic Services and Public Health, and now Conservation Authorities and Libraries, the balance of funding for these operations between the Province and municipalities is going to change.

The unexpected one-time funding to rural Ontario municipalities that was announced a few weeks ago, and the language around seeking efficiency that came with that funding, is no coincidence. The decision to create much larger entities to deliver emergency services and Public Health, both municipally based services, are a further indication that sooner than later larger municipalities will be forced upon us.

For Frontenac County does that mean a single municipality to replace North, Central and South Frontenac is inevitable? Perhaps so, but at least two other possibilities are in play. One would be to break up the county system and create municipalities along east-west corridors. That makes some sense in terms of established travel patterns, but it would be complicated and difficult to pull off and possibly even more costly to run. It will likely be easier to stick with the way services already flow.

I can see a single municipality of Kingston-Frontenac, with services being centred in Kingston as a distinct possibility, or even Kingston Frontenac, Lennox and Addington becoming a single municipality. A basket of services for Frontenac County residents are already delivered by the City of Kingston, and it would be easier to extend that pattern than to start from scratch.

There is every chance that when the announcement about impending change comes from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, it will be similar to what is being done with healthcare. There will be a process set out for different municipalities to work out new arrangements, based on a recommended average population size to be served by these new municipalities. It could be 50,000 people, it could be 100,000 people, or it could be more.

Under that scenario, proposing a single tier for Frontenac County with 25,000 people, would not be acceptable. A single Frontenac township will not satisfy the Ford government’s desires.

One way or another, rural Ontario will either be parceled up and tacked on to larger towns and cities, or else the new rural municipalities will be so vast that there will be little or no cohesion between disparate communities within a single municipality.

Our current Municipal Councils can’t really address this possible future because it is still speculative. They will know what their real options are only when word comes down from on high. Meanwhile it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to continue on as they have been, discussing how to make their operations more efficient as if the future will resemble the past.

Recent conversations at the Frontenac County level about a new county office, and a proposal to set up a virtual roads system in order to attract more provincial grants, seem odd in the context of the coming changes, very much a ‘rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic’ scenario.

Sometime soon, the municipal ship will hit the provincial iceberg, and there will be no advance notice.

Published in Editorials
Wednesday, 17 April 2019 12:51

The Ford decimal system

Those who said that the Ford government in Ontario would bring in the kind of tumultuous era that came about when the Mike Harris government ruled the roost in the late 1990’s, might be saying I told you so about now.

Under Harris, the delivery of health, education, social and municipal services in Ontario all saw radical changes. Under Ford, the same thing is happening.

The 14 Local Health Integration Networks LHINS, which fund hospitals, homecare and other health services, are being folded into a single agency. That was not a huge shock to anyone. The LHIN’s, a Liberal government innovation, were never very popular and the Conservative Party said they would eliminate them while on the campaign trail last spring.

The subsequent plan to eliminate dozens of health care and community support agencies in order to set up single service providers for populations of 300,000 or so residents signaled the direction the government intends to take, across the spectrum of provincially delivered services.

This week, the true breadth of change is coming even more clear with the announcements that Public Health Units will be restructured. Thirty-two health units will be reduced to 10, each serving a million or so people.

Then, another shoe fell, when it was announced on Monday that 52 Paramedic Service Providers in the province will be restructured down to 10 as well.

As taxpayers, we should be able to hear from our politicians how these changes, with all the up-front costs they will bring, will improve service delivery and/or save money. Before disrupting operations that have been working to create efficiencies and trying to build effective corporate cultures around delivering public services, we all need to know that there is a coherent plan to actually make things work better.

But we have none of that. All we have is this suspiciously round number, 10. There are 14.8 million people living in Ontario, spread in a very uneven fashion over a 1.07 million square kilometre land mass. Somehow, it makes sense to have 10 (not 9, not 14, not 8) but exactly 10 Public Health organisations and the exact same number of Paramedic Service operators.

It might be a coincidence but it suggests that instead of a thoughtful consultative process aimed at determining the best way to deliver essential paramedic services, and promote and defend public health, a small group of political operatives sat around a table and thought 10 was a nice round number.

The Minister of Health, Christine Elliott, put out a statement on twitter on Tuesday, after the story came out, about the changes to Paramedic Services.

“As we modernize our health care system, we will empower paramedics to improve the already great emergency care they provide. We are working with frontline paramedics and our municipal partners to ensure emergency health services can better meet the needs of Ontario’s communities,” she said

The way this has been announced and the fact that no one involved in paramedic services had any idea this was coming, suggests that Elliott’s claim that “we are working with frontline paramedics and municipal partners” is false. If that claim is false, then why should Ontarians believe that the new emergency system will indeed “better meet the needs of Ontario’s communities”.

Later in the day, Premier Ford seemed to step back from what had been a definitive statement of the governments intent to make these changes, by saying “nothing is written in stone” and “we are looking at all options”. This only serves to indicate that this government is willing to make announcements first, and develop concrete policy later.

I might be proved wrong, but I expect that services to more remote regions of our area, such as Denbigh and Robertsville in Frontenac and Lennox and Addington, will face closure when a single service provider, with no local oversight, is responsible for all of Eastern Ontario, from Cobourg to Cornwall in the South and Pembroke to Huntsville in the North.

The implications of this will hit Frontenac County more than just about any other jurisdiction, since losing the Paramedic Services will cut out over 40% of its operating budget.

What this does, as well, is leave municipal politicians to wonder what comes next. The changes to Paramedic Services and Public Health reveal that the provincial government is more than willing to radically change services, that are financed with both provincial and municipal dollars, and operated by municipalities. And in doing so, they will effectively be taking over the services.

There is an example of how this works, the operation of the OPP. Municipal ratepayers pay for the service through property taxes, but municipal councils have no say in either the operation of the service or how much it costs their ratepayers. All of the control rests with the Province.

It is becoming more and more evident, that the next change that is coming will involve a restructuring of Ontario municipalities themselves.

Should we be getting prepared for the 10 municipalities solution in Ontario?

Published in Editorials

South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal has written to the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Steve Clark, about the township’s frustration over not having a member sitting on the government benches even though the Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston riding voted for the winning party in the most recent election.

“South Frontenac has waited patiently for an opportunity to have a Member of the Provincial Parliament sitting in government and following the provincial election, we had hopes that our years of educating, communicating and lobbying on behalf of South Frontenac’s unique needs would lead to improved opportunities for South Frontenac.

“With the recent decision to remove Mr. Hillier from caucus, the township is now at a loss as to how to regain our footing and best move forward the concerns and needs we have diligently been pursuing. Vandewal wrote to Clark.

Vandewal, noting that Clark represents a neighbouring riding, Leeds Grenville – Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, then asked his advice on how the township may “best advance” its concerns and needs, before requesting a meeting at the Minister’s convenience.

South Frontenac Council has long complained that they have little success when seeking grants for infrastructure projects, due in part to the positive financial position that the township enjoys and, apparently, because it has not had a representative at Queen’s Park pushing its interests.

The most daunting project the township is facing is the reconstruction of Road 38, its busiest arterial road, which has not seen major work in over 20 years. The section of Road 38 that runs through Central Frontenac, was rebuilt in 2006, thanks in part to a $4 million federal-provincial grant that was secured earlier that year.

Co-incidentally or not, the MPP representing Frontenac at that time was Leona Dombrowsky, a cabinet minister in the McGuinty government. At a ceremony marking the $4 million grant, Dombrowsky pointed to the persistence of the township’s lobbying efforts.

“I’ve been hearing about Hwy. 38 and its reconstruction needs since before I was first elected,” said Minister Dombrowsky at the time.

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC

Ramsey Hart, of Perth, is running to be the candidate for the New Democratic Party in the June 7th provincial election. On February 15, the NDP officially accepted his application as a candidate for nomination. The riding association has yet to set a date for a nomination meeting, which will likely take place in March. Because of new fixed election date legislation, the provincial election date is known to be June 7 and the election campaign period will take up the month of May.

Hart is is the Executive Director at The Table Community Food Centre in Perth and an active volunteer in a number of community initiatives, including the Tay Valley Ski Club, Lanark County Neighbours for Truth and Reconciliation, the Perth Men’s Shed and the Mayor’s Task Force on Local Climate Change.

He came to Perth four years ago to take the leadership role at the Table from Ottawa, where he worked for Mining Watch Canada. The Table operates a food bank, serves community meals, and operates food and social programs as well.

Not surprisingly, concern about the social safety net in Ontario is one of the main reason that Hart is putting his name forward to try and represent the NDP in the coming election.

“From my work at the Table, I have developed a sense of the importance of policy decisions as they relate to the services available to, and opportunities for advancement, for many people in our communities. Because of the gaps in our social safety net, a lot of people struggle to get by. While the increase to the minimum wage is a help, a person can’t live in dignity under Ontario Works or the Ontario Disability Support Program without depending on Food Banks and other services. Housing is also a major issue that Ontario needs to address,” he said, in a telephone interview on Tuesday (February 20)

Hart recognizes that NDP candidates are viewed as underdogs in a riding with a long history ofsening Conservatives to Queen’s Park, but said he is not deterred.

“We’ve had 14 years of Liberal government in Toronto and decades of Conservative representation in this riding. Now is a good time to look at viable alternatives to the status quo. If people want a change, I want to be that change. The NDP has a solid track record representing rural areas of northern Ontario and I can do the same in eastern Ontario if given the chance” he said, in a press release.

The need to combat poverty is a theme he intends to return to on the campaign trail.

“We are losing the potential of too many people and spending too much money to treat the symptoms of poverty. We can do a much better job taking care of each other. For example, the NDP’s program for a provincial pharma-care program will make an important difference in many people’s lives.

Diversification in the agricultural sector, small business growth, and keeping rural schools open are also issues he intends to address.

“While he has not spent a lot of time in Frontenac County since moviong to the region, Hart has taken advantage of the wilderness opportunities the county offers, including winter camping and skiing at Frontenac Park, and an annual canoe trip in North Frontenac Parklands.

“I am looking forward to learning more about Frontenac County as the election nears,” he said, “from what I have seen there is a lot of untapped potential to attract more visitors.”

He will be taking a leave of absence from his job at the Table in May, but intends to begin talking to people about the election throughout the late winter and spring.

Ramsey Hart can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or 613-298-4745

 

Published in General Interest
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