Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Personal Responsibility, Quebec Style

The Globe and Mail has an item on the high dropout rate in Quebec for high school students. Where does the responsibility lie?

The Opposition Parti Québécois says the Charest government needs to cut teacher-student ratios and invest in after-school activities, along with other measures aimed at helping keep teens in school.

“They've got to put their money where their mouth is,” said Pierre Curzi, PQ critic for primary and secondary education. “This is an emergency. We can't tolerate such a high dropout rate when we know you need an education for the current job market.”

Better after school programs will fix it? Yeah, Buddy Repperton, who pulled a knife on Arnie Cunnigham in shop class, wouldn't have dropped out if only they let him into the Yearbook Committee.

In Quebec, the only solution is more money, more programs. Why not? Transfer payments will take care of it.

2 comments:

  1. This entire mind set of constantly increasing government spending is everywhere, not just in Quebec. Tax freedom day in Canada is already past the six month mark. Looking at the big picture, when do you say enough is enough? Does tax freedom day have to go into December before someone figures out there is problem. In the last 20 years we have already seen a massive growth in the underground economy. Does anyone feel bad paying the cheaper cash rate, or buying black market smokes. The city of Toronto is proposing a 4% tax hike for this year. Why is it always a hike, why not a cut back. Dalton McPukey is "limiting" Ontario civil servants to a 1.5% pay increase. This is his idea of a cut back. The head of OLG makes 400K a year.
    What happen to the Canadian spirit and fortitude? Today everyone thinks more government is the answer for everything. This mind set has got to change, before any progress can be made.

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  2. I agree the mindset has to change, but I fear we're already too far down the road. I remember the debate before the first Paul Martin election in 2004. It was a town hall. A citizen asked Harper: What industries would you target for federal investment. Harper replied (paraphrase): We don't plan on targeting industries. We don't think that's the government's job. We hope to help the economy overall so businesses can thrive." The audience members were stunned. This concept never occured to them. He might as well have said it in Greek, because nobody understood.

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