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Scattering of brains
When I was a kiddo the word “scatterbrained” was lobbed at those among us who couldn’t follow through with a thought or an idea. Little kids were scatterbrained because of the eight be-jillion things we wanted to be, do, have, say. Sometimes those ideas were flying around as if they were caught up in a whirlwind. Sooner or later, most of us learned to focus on one project at a time. Now, before you “tear me a new one”, I’m well aware there are people who have a genetic predisposition to ADHD and ADD. I understand those conditions. I’m not addressing those conditions here. Nope, I am not. However, this morning I am wondering how our Premier’s mind works. One day he’s serious about building a tunnel under Highway 401. Then without taking a breath he’s talking about building a convention centre in downtown Toronto—Toronto already has several. Later, he pours himself a big glass of milk and decides OSAP monies are being spent frivolously by students in need. I’ve heard DF isn’t into booze, and he tells us he doesn’t do drugs, so I’m wondering if something else is amiss. Perhaps his own lack of post-secondary education has made him bitter.
His line-up of controversial “ideas” include the Greenbelt Scandal, Ontario Place Redevelopment, continuous interference in municipal affairs and obstructing local public transit development. He ignores the fiscal mismanagement by his own party and frequent reversals of the implementation of many points of governance thereby incurring debts related to the cost of consultants and cost of studies only to find out he’d made huge mistakes. Now he’s intent on underfunding education, healthcare and actual infrastructure. But, at this very moment, I’m most perturbed by his words regarding OSAP! Seriously, the man said, “Don’t pick basket weaving courses and then not pick up a job.” Really! I could be wrong (it’s happened), but I’m not sure there is a full-time degree or certificate programme in basket weaving that has been offered at any of the post-secondary institutions in Ontario. When he was unable to find a post-secondary basket weaving programme, Mr. Ford decided to slash all of the courses he deemed to be frivolous. At Algonquin College thirty-seven programmes were cut. Loyalist College suffered the suspension of twenty-four programmes. Those cuts impacted Culinary Arts, Environmental Services, Architectural and Engineering Technology, Business, Computer Software and Biotechnology—to name a few. In his next breath, DF encouraged students to pursue a post-secondary education in STEM courses (which, by the way, are usually more expensive than the other courses) but he’d already scuttled some of those courses due to “budgetary concerns”. And then?
Well, and then, I reminisced about the days when old farts like me and LOML were struggling to attend post-secondary school. We most definitely relied on grants and student loans. If paying tuition and buying books on the list were the same as “buying fancy watches and cologne” then let me show you our fancy watches and spray you with the cologne! I didn’t take psychology, nor did LOML, but we (like many of you) know when someone thinks they missed out on something. I believe DF missed out on something and the rest of us have to pay for it. LOML and I chose to pursue an education in fields we enjoyed. LOML completed his degrees and graduated in five years while working part-time. I worked full-time and attended classes part-time. Let me tell you cologne and watches were the last thing we would have spent OSAP and CSLs on. Rent, food, transportation and tuition were tops on our list. And I know times have changed, but I also know most currently enrolled postsecondary students have tuition and life-related bills to pay. And, I know most young people don’t have the resources to be able to consider OSAP as frivolously disposable income.
Dear Dougie: If you want to talk about frivolous spending, please be honest enough to have a very close look at the absolute crap load of taxpayer dollars you’ve wasted on your scatterbrained ideas including putting liquor and beer into grocery and convenience stores when it could have been done for free if you’d waited for the MFA to run out. It ain’t watches and cologne, Dougie, but those millions/ billions would have gone a long way for the future basket weavers of Ontario.
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