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: 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

RE: The Moral Case Against Dumb Government Intervention — January 14, 2009
Mark Milke is one of those people whose philosophy and consequent opinions are like carborundii. Depending on your relationship to his grindstones of wisdom, they can either grind you down and make you angry, or sharpen your sense of what is really of importance and give you an edge. I hardly ever agree with his outlook, his opinions or his politics, but his columns never fail to engage my intellect and elevate my blood pressure. With this column, he has simultaneously angered me and sharpened my resolve. It is not just because I wholeheartedly agree with his assessment of the moral indictment against "stupid" governments and slatternly business entitlements. He has also expressed most reasonable Canadians' exasperation at our politicians (you can't really call them leaders) repeating the same insanity while hoping for different results. Well done, Mr. Milke. -- John O'Gorman, Bragg Creek

RE: School Vouchers in Sweden — May 17, 2005
I also agree with the need to break the educrat strangle hold on the system. Trust me, I have dealt with this centralized administration attitude that we know best what is good for you for too long. Similarly, I agree the power to the union and the professional bodies to dictate how education delivered needs to be reduced. We need more choice and control as parents and communities about the type of education our young people receive. - Email from Winnipeg

RE: Let’s Dance the Dutch Minuet on Schools — March 31, 2003
The Frontier Centre's highlight on the Dutch Education System demonstrates that our current education model and governance structure can be changed to achieve better performance, accountability, and value for both students and taxpayers. Only those with vested interests, fear of change, and/or disbelief in the room for improvement would be afraid of learning from the success of others. - E-mail from S. Mark Francis, Winnipeg, March 31, 2003

RE: I read your article on school taxes with great interest and found myself agreeing with many of the main points. My question is: under a system of per pupil grants with management being at the school level, how would you ensure that students whose needs are more expensive to serve (than average students) are being met ? In other words what incentive is there for principals to cater to needs of difficult students ? - E-mail from Arthur Olson, Winnipeg — March 30, 2005
The province already pays more for special needs students, although the system currently lacks transparency and needs to be repaired. In jurisdictions where school choice is a reality, specific public schools cater to the market for “difficult” students, and by specializing become much more effective in meeting their needs. They treat such hard cases as opportunities to increase revenue rather than problems to be ignored. We could do a lot more for the most challenged students by abandoning the policy of mainstreaming, which disrupts classrooms for the severely normal. You may also find this perspective from a retired teacher interesting. Click here .

RE: Three Million Manitobans — June 3, 2003
"Always interesting reading..." Email - Moncton, New Brunswick

"I REALLY enjoyed this article. It contains the kind of "beyond the box" thinking that I wish could be found in governments, of any political stripe. Well done." Email - Winnipeg, Manitoba

Mainstreaming Mania
Unfortunately, this type of social engineering puts the public school system at a disadvantage. It is one more reason for parents to spend a little more on private and independent schooling options for their children in order to avoid the frequently disruptive ideological ballast of mainstreaming.

Schools Should Focus on the Essentials
Schmoker also notes that students are more likely to learn when teachers focus on providing effective, whole-class lessons rather than trying to cater to the individual learning style of every student. He provides several examples of schools in high-poverty neighbourhoods where their students are reading well above grade level. In these schools, early years teachers engage all students in learning through whole-class lessons with regular checks for understanding.

Five Modest Proposals for a New AFN Chief
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) will be at a crossroads as they hold their annual meeting in Calgary this week and let’s not kid ourselves: the AFN has an impact. Useful legislation has been either killed or watered-down “thanks” to AFN intervention; think of the Liberal’s proposed First Nation Governance Act, or a more recent bill from the Tories that would grant civil rights for on-reserve First Nations women.

Discussing the Elephant in the Room: Indian Property Rights
This research ... uncovers 6.5 million acres (2.7 million hectares) of land held by First Nations but ultimately owned by the Crown. While not all of this land is prime, much is arable or contains timber, oil and natural gas, or mineral wealth. Even without prime land, all First Nations would see an instant increase in the value of their land if it was truly theirs. After all, Hong Kong has few natural resources; what Hong Kong has had over the past century was property rights which allowed land to be leveraged into loans, capital and wealth creation.

Political Diversity: Money Talks and its Language is Incumbency (Part 5 of 8)
Political science teaches that incumbent governments will generally tend to shape the political playing field to favour their own interests. Manitoba’s current government has done so deftly, which has limited political competition and further entrenched the supplicant society model.

Conversation with Tom Flanagan
Yes, it is largely a result of the legislative straightjacket that we have put them in. However, the legislation is there for a purpose-to preserve a collective identity-so we have to face up to the fact that if you are going to use government legislation to preserve an identity there are going to be economic consequences.

Government Should Act to Avoid Native Walkerton Tragedy
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada’s delivery of 200 water buckets to a remote Manitoba reserve was used to show ‘lack of action’ on the issue. The political symbolism of the buckets, which Native leaders dubbed ‘slop pails’, however, is no substitute for proper action. To be clear, lack of water is not the issue, but water quality. Merrell-Ann S. Phare, Executive Director of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources stated that more than 90 per cent of First Nation communities are located near or directly beside bodies of water.

Wide Fluctuations in Arctic Temperature Common
The two reports underline what scientists who have studied arctic climates know. Namely, that arctic climate and therefore arctic ice fluctuates a great deal. Indeed, it is more normal to have large areas of the arctic warming while others cool. Overall the arctic and the world has come from an ice age (glacial period) just 22,000 years ago to an interglacial (warm period) today. The warming was mostly caused by changes in the sun/earth relationship (tilt and orbit changes) and changes in solar energy. The changes since modern records began around 1880 also correlate with changes in the sun, not greenhouse gases.

Saskatchewan's Recycling Woes
Inevitably, Saskatchewan has reacted to the unwelcome imports with a barrage of regulations that have increased its costs. At first, people lugging in loads of cans ran into daily limits on containers eligible for refunds. They had to prove they were residents of Saskatchewan. But it never worked. The smugglers simply broke the large truckloads into smaller batches and arranged to return the interloping cans over several days.