Education/Provincial Election 2011

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Tara Knox's Grade 10 civics classes at Kincardine District Secondary School took part in the provincial election process by creating their own political parties, platforms and encouraging the electorate to vote for them in a mock election held on the actual voting day, Thursday (Oct. 6).

The classes held speeches Tuesday (Oct. 4), and debates Wednesday (Oct. 5).

Ironically, Wednesday was also the day the entire student body at KDSS took part in the provincial election Student Vote.

During the first debate Wednesday morning, five party leaders discussed the issues, including Adam Ball of the Red Knights, Glenn Hackett of the People of Ontario, Kush Joshi of the Indigo Party, Jessica Satosek of JKA, and Rachael Whitney of RMJPG.

Kush said the Indigo Party's main priority is to make Ontario the most secure, healthiest and prosperous place to live in Canada.

To do this, it would cut emergency room wait times in half by training more emergency personnel and hiring more doctors, nurses and other hospital positions. It would freeze tuition fees for the next four years and eliminate interest on student debt. It would increase the minimum wage to $11/hour this year. And reduce the size of the cabinet by at least 20 per cent and dock the pay of the entire cabinet.

Glenn said the People of Ontario would make all-day Kindergarten available to all Ontario communities (with public schools) by 2020, replace coal plants with clean energy by 2015, do health assessments concerning wind turbines, and invest 90 per cent of hunting and fishing licences' revenue to maintain provincial parks.

Rachael said RMJPG would invest in new beds and hospitals, renovate existing hospitals, provide 30 per cent post-secondary tuition grants for students from middle-class families, keep the cap on student debt at $7,300, create a tax credit for businesses that hire skilled newcomers, and create 200,000 new apprenticeships over four years for skilled tradespeople

Jessica said JKA would hire more Nurse Practitioners because they can do almost as much as doctors and their wages are a lot less, cut the cost of education so parents and students don't have to pay as much for their education in primary, secondary and post-secondary school, give an extra $250 per month per child to all single or divorced parents, promote new business to come to Ontario therefore employing more people to collect taxes from, construct a garbage incinerator that produces energy to reduce the burden on landfill sites

"Vote JKA because we believe that our party will be able to make the right decisions for a successful government," she said. "Fix this mess, vote Jess!"

Adam said the Red Knights would provide better hospital food, ensure schools offer before-and-after school programs for parents who work long hours, remove the HST from  hydro bills and the cost of home heating, balance Ontario's budget by 2017-18, improve home care and create a Truth of Government Act to ensure information involving contracts, expenses and travel costs is made public.

The questioning portion of the debate was rather tepid, with all party leaders being very polite and proper until they were encouraged by Knox to actually get fired up and dig for the real information and specifics behind all the glossy promises made by each party.

Most parties said they would find money for their programs by taxing business, but had difficulty providing details.

The JKA party was asked how it would cut down on education costs.

Jessica said revenue would come from reducing the cabinet by 25 per cent, and taxing new businesses. The party's plan is to cut tuition costs and fees for books for students in post-secondary education.

The Red Knights were asked why they focused on hospital food?

"People need to eat good food to get well," said Adam, "and in hospitals today, they don't get that good food."

All parties were asked what they planned to do to help the youth of Ontario.

Kush said his party was providing after-school programs to keep young people occupied, and freezing tuition fees for the next four years to help youth through post-secondary education.

Adam said his party would hire more teachers to provide a better education, and provide after-school programs.

Glenn said his party would assist with extracurricular activities for families whose parents work long hours.

Rachael said her party would provide better education and more apprenticeships.

Jessica said her party would provide all-day Kindergarten and before-and-after school programs.

As the debate heated up, RMJPG was asked how it would create 200,000 apprenticeships if it was reducing taxes.

Rachael said the party would add to the apprenticeships already in place.

JKA was asked why it would give $250/month per child to people who are already making in excess of $100,000/year.

"That's crazy," said Glenn. "Parents who make that kind of money don't need it."

Jessica said her party doesn't believe it should pick and choose who gets this benefit.

"I understand the idea of helping out people who need help," argued Kush, "but if someone is making $100,000/year, is it fair to give this money to them just because they're single or divorced, and not to someone else who is married but making $2,000/year?"

Jessica had no response.

The Indigo Party was asked how it planned to reduce the cabinet and dock the cabinet's pay.

Kush said the cabinet's pay would not be docked so severely that members could not sustain themselves. However, the pay would be reduced and that money used for other programs.

And the debate was over.

In the final vote, the Indigo Party won this mock election.

In the civics class vote, and in the entire school's Student Vote for Huron-Bruce candidates, the Liberals won.

That did not hold true for Huron-Bruce Liberal MPP Carol Mitchell who lost to Conservative candidate Lisa Thompson in the actual provincial election Thursday night.

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Saturday, October 08, 2011