Letters to the Editor, Oct. 26, ’25: ‘Smith should issue ultimatum’

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Back-to-work mistake

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It appears Premier Smith is about to make a serious mistake by ordering teachers back to work. With tens of thousands of people supporting the strike and the ATA in being against a back-to-work order, she should deliver an ultimatum: Accept the latest offer by Nov. 15 or be locked out for the entire first semester. Then we will see how many of the protesters still support the ATA strike.

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GLENN W. HARRISON

(That’s an awfully long time for students to be out of school)

Bad move by Ford

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, as part of a multi-million-dollar ad campaign, cherry-picked a 25-minute speech by Ronald Reagan down to a one-minute ad that has effectively put an end to trade talks between Canada and the U.S. By his reckless, idiotic action we will get further punishing tariffs against Canada. Would someone with a lick of common sense tell that strutting popinjay to think before acting. Ford, you’re a joke.

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BRUCE HAYNES

(Read on for a different view…)

Nothing wrong with ad

The Ontario ad using part of Ronald Reagan’s radio address of 1987 gives an accurate view of Reagan’s position on tariffs. Reagan believed in the ideal of free trade and in freely negotiated trade agreements. Certainly, Trump has the right to disagree with Reagan’s trade policies just as he has the right to disagree with his own trade policies as reflected in the CUSMA negotiated in his first term. Presumably, negotiations are suspended and will resume next week after Ontario has stopped running the ad.

BRUCE COUCHMAN

(Or after Trump has moved on to a new outage)

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Money for private schools

Organizers are petitioning to have provincial funding stopped for private schools and that is completely short-sighted. Not only do parents of private schools have to foot the tuition fees for their kids at these schools, but they also pay taxes to support public education. They have the right to obtain public funds for their schools. I worked for 40 years in education, half the time in good public schools and the other half in private schools and there is no contest. There are far greater discipline and safety rules in a private school, all teachers are qualified, and if they don’t perform, they’re fired. Teacher unions in the public sector protect bad teachers, and there are far more of them roaming public classrooms than you might think. And class sizes in private schools are smaller. Parents are willing to dole out their hard-earned cash so their kids can get exceptional education. In some public schools, that’s a crapshoot. Denying provincial funds to private schools is wrong. Let parents make their own decisions on this issue and let the money follow the child.

MARIA WEISS

(It is a hot-button issue at the moment)

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