RE: Make School Day Work Smarter, Not Longer — December 17, 2012

99.5% of the time I agree with the Frontier's views but on this one I have to provide a different  viewpoint. The existing school system at the elementary level is modeled on the same system that existed in the 60's, 50's, 40's, etc. Children are present in school from 9:00am to 3:30pm. Let's take the average family of the 21st century whereby both Mom and Dad are both present in the workforce (unlike the 60's, 50's, etc. where Mom's were "stay at home"). The standard workday is 8:00 to 4:00 or 9:00 to 5:00. Either parent is now forced to either rearrange their work schedule in order to pick up their child(ren) or find suitable after school daycare (for children under the age of 12).

Now take this situation one step further and apply it to a single parent family that is living at or below a middle income level. The parent gets two weeks vacation per year. The average number of Professional Development days teachers receive are a minimum of 1 per month not including early dismissals. The single parent must arrange and pay for an after school sitter or daycare when their child is released from school at 3:30pm. The cost of this to the parent is significant in terms of percentage of their annualized income. Factor in that the parent must arrange for a sitter 10 days a year not including the two weeks at Xmas and the summer and one can see the system is fine if we were living in 1952 but doesn not work for 2012.

I would argue that the average school day should not only coincide with the average work day but should be 8:30 to 5:30 to allow parents to fullfill their career/job obligations and help contribute to our economy by allowing for more work time and more disposable income directed to things the family needs vs going to after school daycare.

Email - Winnipeg, Mb

RE: Quebec Shouldn’t be Given its Gun Registry Data — September 21, 2012

This column was an eye-opener. Not so much for Navarro-Genie's gun registry argument, but for the examples he gave of the intrusion of the Quebec government in people's lives.

I was aware of the requirement of women to maintain their maiden names upon marriage, but had forgotten, or was un-aware that, among other restrictions, all housing leases must expire at the same time, and that state permission must be sought in naming a child, or to send one to a non-French school. Top it off with the edict that all outdoor commercial signs must be exclusively in French and you have, I believe, the most totalitarian, intrusive regime in Canada.

As with all of their entrenched information-gathering systems already in place, the gun registry in-formation is merely another nail in the coffin for individual freedom in that sad imitation of a democracy.

Eric Hindson, Calgary

RE: Quebec Shouldn’t be Given its Gun Registry Data — September 21, 2012

Question:   Why do you care if Quebec keeps registering long guns, you are in Calgary, does it really affect you?  The majority of Canadian's wanted to keep the registry.

Honestly, I'd be perfectly content if Alberta was the one to leave the country.  You can take Stephen Hitler with you, and continue to ruin your local environment with all the tar sands production and those ugly tailing ponds.  Email from William Groombridge

RE: The Minimum Wage - Forbidding People to Work — February 8, 2005

One of your best articles yet, and one of the most convincing on the minimum wage issue, and ending with a possible solution. - Email from Winnipeg

RE: Poverty Policies Tend to Impoverish — September 13, 2007
If Holle prefers to live in a society in which the people's elected representatives can't intervene in the economy for the common good, he need not push it on us all. He could just move to Guatemala. - Letter to editor, Winnipeg Free Press, Andrew Bonner, London England

RE: Fit To Be Tied Over Native Crimes — September 3, 2008
Thank you so much for the sane and well-written article that appeared in the Herald-Leader Press (Portage la Prairie, MB) last week. I hope what you say will be taken to heart - not only by aboriginals, but by all of us. Governments are notoriously stupid, but we individuals are not very bright, either. Working together, for the good of those we have any contact with, is a healing kind of attitude - on or off a reserve. -- Email from Manitoba

RE: European Lessons for Canada — June 9, 2005
Congratulations. You hit the nail on the head with your analysis on the problems created by over-centralized government in Canada, particularly, how it fuels separatism in Quebec. - Jean Allard, Winnipeg

RE: Telecommuting Trumps the Planners — October 9, 2006

Your comments on telecommuting and its impact on urban development were very interesting. Personally, I have been telecommuting in my work since 1997. In the 1990’s, my location options were limited to urban areas. Since 2000, my options expanded to include rural communities. In 2001, I managed a $400,000 contract in the Caribbean when I was located in a medium-sized rural community in Manitoba. Today, I live on a farm, and I can enjoy all the communication capacity that I could have located in the centre of Winnipeg. In the business world, I am as connected here as I would be living in downtown Toronto. Why would I give up the fresh air, the space and most importantly, the personal safety of my present situation to live in central Winnipeg? More and more, people are going to get out of this hostile environment and choose to live in safe rural communities where they can participate in the knowledge economy. - E-mail from rural Manitoba

RE: An Environmental Policy for the 21st Century — October 13, 2005
I have just reviewed your paper on Smart and Green principles. I want to congratulate you for crafting such a thoughtful and intellectually-rigorous document. E-mail from Manitoba

Deconstructing the Aboriginal Problem
In 1875, "five dollars was enough to buy five acres of land in southern Manitoba. . . . That land now sells for $1,000 an acre." In other words, if the treaty money had increased in value by the same proportion, it would be worth $5,000 a year per person. That translates into about $400 a month for each individual, and that's where Allard would direct it. Not into the pockets of tribal leaders, but to those who now live by their not-so-tender mercies.

The Right Moves on Immigration
The appearance of the Ocean Lady carrying 76 Tamil asylum seekers in October 2009, followed by the Sun Sea with 492 Tamils in August 2010, alerted Canadians to the reality that our borders were not secure and that people were being smuggled into the country under the guise of seeking asylum. The situation underscored the crucial need for reform.

Say Hello to the 1980s Deficits in Modern Drag
A deficit of this size cannot be allowed to continue," said Johnston in his 1987 budget remarks. Except that it did. The province incurred $2.1 billion in red ink in 1990—the planned year for balanced books, followed by deficits of $1.8 billion in 1991, $2.6 billion in 1992, $3.3 billion in 1993, and almost $1.4 billion in 1994.

IPCC Side Ducks Out of Chicago Conference on Climate Change
The clearest example of this strategy is the refusal of Al Gore –the man who popularized the most catastrophic theories about global warming- to even debate the topic. Imagine if the leading proponents of tax relief refused to debate Keynesian advocates because the “economics are settled.” They’d be laughed out of the public sphere- and deservedly so.

Growing Confidence in First Nation Elections
One of the most important dimensions of good governance is free and fair elections are a cornerstone of democracy. Legitimate and good government can only exist where political leaders operate with the consent of the public, which can only be obtained through open and fair electoral processes.

Getting Tough On Human Smuggling
Many of the smuggled asylum seekers already have relatives in Canada. They don't want to wait their turn in line or bother to go through the medical, criminal and security checks applicable to those waiting in the backlog. Many of them -- uncles, aunts, nephew, and nieces -- are not eligible to be sponsored so they pay to be smuggled into Canada. This is why smuggling has become big business. The smugglers can give an iron-clad guarantee to the person being smuggled that once on Canadian soil there is little chance of being removed even if their refugee claim is refused

Why the Public School System Exaggerates Student Disabilities
Are all the extra dollars justified? It is highly unlikely that the number of disabled students has tripled in 30 years, even though we have become more skilled at identifying handicaps and dedicating resources to them. A more likely explanation is that divisions have an economic incentive to apply for as much special education funding as possible, regardless of whether or not it is needed. It is clear that insufficient controls are in place to restrain divisions from doing so.

Canada’s Doctor Shortage
According to the latest figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canada ranks 23rd out of 30 countries (tied with New Zealand) for doctors per 1,000 people. In 2005, the last year available, Canada had just 2.2 doctors per 1,000 people, barely higher than in 1990 when Canada had 2.1 physicians per 1,000 people (OECD, 2007).

Garden Chemicals and Intellectual Honesty
As to the market declining, Dr. Paton has once again neglected to do his homework. According to the Croplife Canada annual report, non-agricultural herbicide sales in Canada increased 16 percent in 2003 over 2002. Despite all of the politically correct hoopla around pesticides, Canadians are in favour of them now more than ever