Ontario Election

In my opinion, the election was lost at the starting gate by John Tory's proposal re education funding.

1. It upset the public school supporters because they see the problems in the school system and erroneously conclude that more money is the answer. Why would they want money sent elsewhere?

2. It upset Hindus and other religious groups because they don't want to be "brought into the fold." They are different, and intend to remain different.

3. It upset many Christian schools and homeschooling families who see it as a slippery slope. They provide an alternative to the public school for a reason: they want to have a different curriculum. To hold out a carrot (here's money, folks) that hides a big fat stick (change your curriculum to come in line with the public school curriculum) is dishonest and causes many to be wary.

We all know that Dalton McGuinty has broken all of his promises. But this one issue, brought forward at the very beginning of the campaign, killed the election for the Conservatives.

It's a shame.

I do hope that the next leader of the Progressive Conservatives (and I DO recommend that there is a leadership change) will actually listen to the people of Ontario at the grassroots level. With the unpopularity of the funding issue, one has to wonder who came up with the idea? Some executive types in a boardroom somewhere, I think. Certainly not the average Conservative Ontarian.