Letter to the Editor
Editor,
Last week’s letter by head coach Kevin Hooper of the Georgian Bay Coyotes Track Club opens a disturbing view on what is wrong with our society.
Athletics of all kinds should be an integral part of our education system. All-weather track facilities should have been part of the new high school under construction, but so should have been a swimming pool, accessible to the public during non-school hours.
But the basic problem in this country is that education is seen and treated as an expense item rather than an essential investment in the future of our youth and society as a whole.
Politicians at all levels suffer from a total lack of vision.
The news is full of reports of society’s ills, youth gangs and gun violence, drug abuse, dangers of vaping, obesity, obsession with electronic gadgets…etc…the list goes on… and volunteers like Kevin Hooper are striking out when they look to government for support.
It is important that we look at which government is responsible for this abomination.
Our municipal government does not have the financial means to fix this problem. Their only effective source of revenue is the property tax, and the property taxpayers are bled dry by the actual property tax and the neverending/rising user fees.
Since Mike Harris changed the whole provincial taxation/user fee system in 2000, with his ironically named ‘Who pays for What’ scheme, which was supposed to be ‘revenue neutral’ and ended up with municipal amalgamations to save cost, destroyed our rural healthcare by firing half of our nurses and trying to close many of our rural hospitals.
Municipalities have been struggling financially ever since to maintain the public infrastructure.
But under the Municipal Act, municipalities are creations of the Province, and if municipal politicians actually get up on their hind feet and call the provincial government of the day to account, repercussions can be severe. Therefore, there is only silence from municipalities.
The ones that SHOULD be stepping up to the plate on this issue, should be our provincial MPP and our federal MP. But they are too busy having their pictures taken at some volunteer events.
They are oblivious to the fact that many of their constituents are struggling on many fronts.
The only growth in our communities is in the Food Bank sector, the used clothing stores, and usurious payday loan shark shops that keep their customers in a perpetual state of financial slavery.
THE PROVINCIAL AND FEDERAL MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT DO NOT APPEAR TO SEE THE DETERIORATION OF MAIN STREETS IN OUR SMALL TOWNS!
Since we live in a predominantly agricultural area, I take the liberty of using a quote that most of the readers will understand.
As far as solving basic problems faced by our municipalities are concerned, the effectiveness of the MPP, a minister in the present government, is comparable to a teat on a bull. It looks nice, but is totally useless.
I am prepared to give our new MP some time to find his feet, but on issues such as support for education is concerned, HE SHOULD be answering Kevin Hooper as to what support he and his party will provide.
Sincerely,
Karl Braeker, Meaford
