Monthly Archives: April 2022

Voting: A Privilege and a Responsibility

April 20, 2022

With Ontario heading to the polls on June 2, each party is trying to convince us that they are best positioned to govern our province for the coming four years. As citizens, we have the privilege to vote in Ontario’s provincial election, and with this privilege comes the responsibility to educate ourselves and ensure we cast our votes wisely. We need to consider the issues that really matter to us, and ensure that those issues are prioritized within a party’s platforms before we cast our vote. A party’s platform reflects that party’s policy priorities, and provincial policies matter because they influence the type of life we experience living in Ontario.

Fix Our Schools wants to see a provincial government elected that prioritizes publicly funded schools and education. Over the past four years with Doug Ford as Premier, we have seen our provincial government fail time and again to prioritize public schools and education. This was not surprising to us, given that the Ford government’s platform back in 2018 was scant, at best, and highlighted policy priorities such as “Buck-A-Beer” rather anything of real value to Ontario, such as addressing the massive repair backlog in our public schools.

As voters, we also need to consider our local candidates and how they will personally serve our ridings in the coming four years. And, if we live in a swing riding, where the local candidate who is polling to win does not reflect our values and priorities, then we may be well served to consider strategic voting. Strategic voting occurs when we decide to vote not for our preferred party/candidate, but for a stronger contender in order to defeat the likeliest winner. For instance, if we view a PC victory as an undesirable outcome, we may vote for the NDP candidate who is polling second in our riding, even though our usual preference is the Green candidate. This strategic voting would be done with the hope of preventing the PC candidate from winning.

Here are some actions you can take and questions/messages you can send in the coming weeks to make it easy for you to have an impact.

Find out who all your local candidates are by visiting the following links: Green Candidates; Liberal candidates; NDP candidates; PC Candidates
Contact all your local candidates via email or phone call to ask questions and let them know that public schools and education are a priority for you
Print out this one-page document of conversation starters and questions, and keep it near your front door so anyone in your household can easily engage when candidates are door-to-door campaigning
Visit the FAQ section of our website for some quick background information on the issue of school conditions in Ontario and solutions to ensure all Ontario schools are safe, healthy and well-maintained
Attend local debates and submit questions/ask questions
Engage with Fix Our Schools on Twitter and Facebook to amplify our messages and make schools a priority issue
If you live in Toronto, you may be interested in a new grassroots campaign called Not One Seat, that is working to ensure Doug Ford does not win one seat in the GTA. Engage with them on social media, and consider getting involved with this 100% volunteer-run initiative.

As voters, we all have the power to make a difference in the coming election, and to ensure that our next provincial government prioritizes issues that are important to us. So in the coming weeks leading up to the provincial election, take the opportunity to use this power wisely!

MPP Gates: $106.1-M of Disrepair in Niagara Falls Schools

April 8, 2022

Dear MPP Gates,

Did you know there is $106.1-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Niagara Falls?

In 2018 MPP Gates signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge to create a Standard of Good Repair for Ontario schools

We commend you for signing the Fix Our Schools Pledge during the election, and making the personal commitment to ensure all Ontario’s schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working. However, as you know, the Ford government has not done any work towards fulfilling this commitment.

To that end, we are sharing the following details of disrepair in each school in your riding in the hope that this detailed information would underscore the importance of developing standards of good repair for Ontario schools and also the importance of providing the adequate, stable provincial funding to school boards required for them to meet those new standards and eliminate the $16.8-billion repair backlog (as of June 2021) that plagues Ontario’s schools:

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Niagara Falls:

ÉÉP LaMarsh	$ 4,395,859
A N Myer SS	$ 5,172,154
Cherrywood Acres PS	$ 1,236,562
Crossroads PS	$ 300,115
Forestview PS	$ 10,300
Fort Erie SS	$ 10,854,284
Garrison Road PS	$ 1,403,544
Greendale PS	$ 1,018,915
Heximer Avenue PS	$ 461,111
James Morden PS	$ 583,639
John Marshall PS	$ 634,172
Kate S Durdan PS	$ 146,219
Martha Cullimore PS	$ 1,181,239
Orchard Park PS	$ 401,579
Peace Bridge PS	$ 133,900
Prince Philip PS	$ 1,482,032
Princess Margaret PS	$ 1,310,591
RidgewayCrystal Beach HS	$ 9,924,291
River View PS	$ 1,339,783
Simcoe Street PS	$ 1,875,622
St Davids PS	$ 21,980
Stamford Collegiate SS	$ 6,616,374
Stevensville PS	$ 1,004,262
Valley Way PS	$ 498,087
Victoria PS	$ 671,040
Westlane SS	$ 5,069,886
Cardinal Newman Catholic E S	$ 1,139,462
Father Hennepin Catholic E S	$ 2,425,143
Loretto Catholic E S	$ 146,219
Mary Ward Catholic E S	$ 4,754,203
Notre Dame Catholic E S	$ 2,339,501
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic ES	$ 6,237,589
Our Lady of Victory Catholic E S	$ 2,640,199
Sacred Heart Catholic E S	$ 1,352,132
Saint Michael Catholic High School	$ 478,950
Saint Paul Catholic High School	$ 9,388,589
St Gabriel Lalemant Catholic E S	$ 1,398,740
St George Catholic E S	$ 252,350
St Joseph Catholic E S (s)	$ 1,180,380
St Mary Catholic E S (n)	$ 3,560,809
St Michael Catholic E S	$ 2,000,064
St Patrick Catholic E S (n)	$ 4,170,530
St Philomena Catholic E S	$ 3,057,671
St. Vincent de Paul Catholic E S	$ 182,310
ÉÉC NotreDamedelaJeunesse Niagara	$ 607,775
ÉÉC SaintAntoine	$ 1,025,098

School conditions matter. They impact student learning, attendance, and health, and must be a higher priority for our next provincial government than they have been with the current Ford government.

PLEASE NOTE: Fix Our Schools is relying on the most recent disrepair data provided by the Ministry of Education in Fall 2017 and has mapped postal codes provided by the Ministry for each school to riding postal code information from a third party. Therefore, it is possible that there may be small errors in the data provided here and we would be grateful if community members would contact us with any errors.

Minister Bethlenfalvy: $88.1-M of Disrepair in Pickering-Uxbridge Schools

April 8, 2022

Dear Minister Bethlenfalvy,

Did you know there is $88.1-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Pickering-Uxbridge?

In 2018 MPP Bethlenfalvy signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge to create a Standard of Good Repair for Ontario schools

We commend you for signing the Fix Our Schools Pledge during the election, and making the personal commitment to ensure all Ontario’s schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working. However, as you know, your government has not done any work towards fulfilling this commitment.

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Pickering-Uxbridge:

St. Elizabeth Seton C.S.	$ 848,016
St. Isaac Jogues C.S.	$ 1,050,212
St. Joseph C.S. uxbridge	$ 1,074,020
St. Mary C.S.S.	$ 1,356,136
St. Monica C.S.	$ 566,826
St. Wilfrid C.S.	$ 592,777
Altona Forest PS	$ 375,512
Bayview Heights PS	$ 3,597,939
Claremont PS	$ 4,264,895
Dunbarton HS	$ 11,512,164
Elizabeth B Phin P.S.	$ 227,723
Fairport Beach PS	$ 3,472,946
Frenchmans Bay PS	$ 2,014,485
Gandatsetiagon PS	$ 2,054,498
Glengrove PS	$ 3,109,330
Goodwood PS	$ 1,939,853
Highbush PS	$ 3,918,169
Joseph Gould PS	$ 2,609,145
Maple Ridge	$ 1,197,492
Pine Ridge SS	$ 9,539,548
Quaker Village PS	$ 382,486
Rosebank Road PS	$ 957,838
Scott Central PS	$ 1,892,390
Sir John A Macdonald PS	$ 4,822,044
Sunderland PS	$ 3,357,616
Uxbridge PS	$ 3,269,050
Uxbridge SS	$ 5,586,088
Valley Farm	$ 2,946,820
Valley View PS	$ 1,560,645
Vaughan Willard PS	$ 2,379,407
Westcreek PS	$ 322,426
William Dunbar PS	$ 2,589,360
Ballantrae PS	$ 2,724,010

School conditions matter. They impact student learning, attendance, and health, and must be a higher priority for our next provincial government than they have been with the current Ford government.

MPP Kernaghan: $99.2-M of Disrepair in London North Centre’s Schools

April 8, 2022

Dear MPP Kernaghan,

Did you know there is $99.2-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of London North Centre?

In 2018 MPP Kernaghan signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge to create a Standard of Good Repair for Ontario schools

We commend you for signing the Fix Our Schools Pledge during the election, and making the personal commitment to ensure all Ontario’s schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working. However, as you know, the Ford government has not done any work towards fulfilling this commitment.

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in London North Centre:

ESC Monseigneur Bruyère	$ 4,559,191
Blessed Sacrament Catholic School	$ 1,762,651
Catholic Central High School	$ 2,241,080
Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School	$ 694,238
St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School	$ 38,080
St. Kateri Catholic School	$ 1,556,266
St. Mark Catholic School	$ 2,755,797
St. Mary Choir Catholic School	$ 1,610,260
St. Michael Catholic School, London	$ 367,705
St. Thomas More Catholic School	$ 1,172,242
A. B. Lucas SS	$ 11,970,630
Central SS	$ 2,151,851
Eagle Heights PS	$ 575,146
East Carling PS	$ 1,615,449
H.B. Beal SS	$ 637,378
Hillcrest PS	$ 3,035,865
Jack Chambers PS	$ 812,822
Jeanne Sauvé FI PS	$ 2,068,397
Knollwood Park PS	$ 6,394,588
Lord Elgin PS	$ 3,783,133
Lord Roberts FI PS	$ 5,238,780
Louise Arbour FI PS	$ 7,874,274
Masonville PS	$ 3,555,141
Northbrae PS	$ 4,788,108
Orchard Park PS	$ 558,201
Ryerson PS	$ 7,185,125
Sir John A. Macdonald PS	$ 6,508,911
St. George’s PS	$ 5,866,700
University Heights PS	$ 2,484,706

School conditions matter. They impact student learning, attendance, and health, and must be a higher priority for our next provincial government than they have been with the current Ford government.

How Do You Approach Voting? What Do You Consider?

April 5, 2022

The freedom and agency we enjoy living in a democratic society is a privilege. The ability to exercise our democratic right by voting in elections is also a privilege. With a provincial election coming up in June, our hope is that every eligible voter in Ontario will exercise their right to vote and will do so with thoughtfulness. We invite you to be part of an open, respectful dialogue about how we approach voting, and what we consider when casting our ballots. How do you approach voting and what things do you consider when voting?

Our Personal Priorities and Beliefs:

Voting is a personal decision. Therefore, a good starting point is to get clear on our own priorities and beliefs. At Fix Our Schools, we are passionate about publicly funded schools and education. For members of our working group these are the key priorities for us in any provincial election. In particular, our focus has always been on ensuring safe, healthy, well-maintained schools that provide environments conducive to learning and working.

We believe school conditions matter and can positively (or negatively!) impact students’ health, attendance, performance and achievement.
We believe that our provincial government must provide adequate, stable funding for school infrastructure.
We believe that a necessary source of public revenue is corporate taxes, which have been dropping as a proportion of their profits for years.
We believe that standards of good repair must be in place for schools, schoolyards and portables, and that data must be collected to ensure these standards are met.

These beliefs serve as guiding lights for Fix Our Schools as we make decisions on which candidate to vote for in a provincial election. We want to cast our ballot in a way that most aligns with our priorities and beliefs.

Party Platform:

A political platform outlines a party’s values and beliefs, and provides a sense of which issues the party prioritizes. A platform also provides a sense of the policies a political party would adopt relative to an issue.

Back in 2018, Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative (PC) party won a resounding majority based on a platform dubbed a “Plan for the People”, with a large emphasis on “restoring respect for the taxpayer”. The details of PC party’s education platform were scant at best, and made no mention of addressing the $15.9-billion of disrepair that plagued Ontario’s publicly funded schools back in 2018 (spoiler alert: total school disrepair in Ontario has grown to $16.8-billion under Ford’s leadership). The PC platform also did not mention fixing the flawed provincial education funding formula that has allowed our schools to accumulate such an enormous level of disrepair.

In short, the PC party’s 2018 election platform under Doug Ford did not align with the personal priorities and beliefs of the members of Fix Our Schools’ working group outlined above. Therefore, we looked at casting our votes for candidates other than our local PC candidates.

For the upcoming provincial election, we will be looking closely at the education platforms of all parties, and have been trying to influence those platforms. We want to see safe, healthy, well-maintained schools prioritized. Fix Our Schools suggests that for the 2022 provincial election, we all pay attention to party platforms and demand answers and details on how each party plans to improve and fix Ontario’s publicly funded schools. We believe that every individual has the power to influence a party’s priorities and platforms.

In 2018 parents from a single school council banded together to submit questions about school disrepair at a local all-candidates debate. The result? School disrepair was the first topic to be discussed by all candidates at their local debate. The whole community heard about the importance of schools in our communities.

Swing Ridings and Strategic Voting:

A swing riding is a riding where the voting result was close previously, and there is a reasonable chance the outcome could be different this time. Many ridings in Ontario “swung” from Liberal to PC in the 2018 election and are polling to return to being Liberal in 2022. The 2018 election also included 17 new ridings, which don’t yet have a historical voting pattern.

Strategic voting occurs when a citizen decides to vote not for their preferred party, but for a stronger contender in order to defeat the likeliest winner. For instance, if a voter views a PC victory as an undesirable outcome, they may vote for the NDP candidate polling second in that riding, even though their usual preference is the Green candidate. This strategic voting would be done with the hope of preventing the PC candidate from winning.

In the upcoming provincial election, there are many ridings that have been identified as possible swing ridings where voters could choose to vote strategically.

Fix Our Schools wants a provincial government that:

Provides a thoughtful, detailed election platform that serves as the mandate from which they govern
Prioritizes public education and schools
Provides the funding needed to meet the standards we want for schools and education in this province
Is transparent
Meets with stakeholders and values/integrates their input into policy

While Fix Our Schools is a non-partisan campaign, we have seen the Ford government fail students, families, teachers and communities for 4 years. Based on past performance, we suggest you consider voting strategically for the candidate in your riding who has the best chance of defeating the PC candidate.

Looking ahead to the June Provincial Election:

As you consider who you will vote for in the provincial election this June, please think about the 2-million children in Ontario who spend their days in publicly-funded schools. At the moment, $16.8-billion of disrepair exists in these buildings. There are no measurable standards in place to even specify what constitutes “acceptable school conditions” and our provincial government does not collect data about the results achieved through investing in schools. We believe this situation needs to change – so we will be voting for change.