Don’t be sorry

Dear editor:
I attended the meeting where the three candidates in our riding debated issues which were important to the electorate.
Mr. Hampton stated right off that he only was in favour of government support for the public schools. Private schools were only for the rich, he stated, who send their children at the cost of $10,000 a year.
This is not true.
Most of the parents sacrifice dearly to be able to send their children there, and the cost of their education is less and the standard of the education is generally higher.
Let us set this straight!
There are public schools and separate schools, and each of them is run by their own school boards. Parents who are satisfied with the public system send their children to the public school. Parents who prefer an education based on their religious beliefs send them to the separate schools.
Among the latter are Catholic and Protestant parents. Both Christian! This is the basic dividing line among the separate school boards.
When I confronted Mr. Hampton about this at the exit, he said that the Catholic schools were public schools. They are not—and they don’t want that stigma attached to their schools.
Hampton later on in the evening spoke of public Catholic schools.
The discrepancy comes in that only the Catholic parents are entitled to direct their school tax to the support of their schools. Protestants do not have this privilege. They have to finance all of the education themselves as well as pay their full share of their school tax to support the public schools.
When finally the present government gives those parents a tax credit, the NDP, as well as the Liberals, want to take this smallest of tax credits away from them.
What makes this so deplorable is that the same people claim that every child in this province is entitled to a free education.
Yes, only when you don’t claim the Bible as the word of almighty God and His word as the guideline for your life. Then the NDP can, through the school system, indoctrinate our children’s thoughts, adding to the demoralization of our society through the redefinition of marriage of same-sex partners, etc.
It is not the government, but we as parents who define that.
I don’t deny same-sex couples the right to live as they prefer but they have not got the right to be called a family. A father, mother, and children are the backbone of our society. What a joy to see them together. What a unique bond.
To change the definition of family, we can expect millions of tax dollars to be spent. The legal profession will have a heyday—all at taxpayers’ expense.
There are those who have sex with animals. What about their rights? Who will be entitled to the widow’s pension? Who can claim the right to adopt boys or girls and who cannot?
Who is going to train a child in the way he should go? Public schools only? May it never be!
Why don’t all the Protestants parents show up with their thousands of children, complete with their teachers, buses, etc., at the office of the separate school board. I guarantee the Ontario government will be called in to emergency session to deal with them when they claim their constitutional rights.
It is going to happen.
This election is not about privatization of publicly-owned facilities. No! The indoctrination of our children is far more important.
The other issue which took a lot of time in the debate was the privatization of Ontario Hydro. If we in Northwestern Ontario could have had the wisdom and the opportunity to have Manitoba supply us with electricity instead of Ontario Hydro, we would have had a very good deal—cheaper than down east except where Hydro Quebec enters the pictures.
Not all privatization is bad. Would anyone prefer the same telephone rates as we had a few years ago. Just imagine the savings when we could get rid of those expensive rates we pay the LCBO to have all those outlets all over the province.
The private sector could do much better for less money—and the government still would tax the liquor as they do now.
Auto insurance? You might have a point, Mr. Hampton. Why don’t you get together with the other parties and show the private sector that you can do it cheaper.
Hospitals and health clinics will be privatized. Stop your fear-mongering, Mr. Hampton. No other party would consider that road.
People of Northwestern Ontario, I challenge you to cast your ballots on election day. This is the most important riding in Ontario because it’s ours and we are dealing with the future of our children.
You might be sorry if you didn’t vote.
Yours truly,
Len Hettinga
Emo, Ont.