LOGAN'S PONY CLUB
FOR CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY Contact Logan
LETTERS TO THE TORONTO STAR
Father risks jail to send his son to school, June 13.
As a hard-working Canadian taxpayer with a disabled boy it is my responsibility to take a personal interest in government to ensure my son gets a fair shake. Whenever I run into an obstacle or barrier to a better quality of life for Logan I look to our federal and provincial governments because all Canadians are considered to be equal, especially children with disabilities like Zachary Bonnah.
As noted in the article by social policy reporter Patricia Orwen, it is not the policy of the Mike Harris government that is failing to provide funding and a learning environment for Zachary, but the misguided notions of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and their heavy-handed approach to accommodating Zachary's needs in the classroom with his peers.
Canadian society supports this common good through instruments of the federal and provincial governments that are responsible to the public school system across Canada. It should be just as important for the federal government as it is to the Mike Harris government to manage the tax funds collected for public education in an open and transparent way for the benefit of the children society cares most about. The federal government should be responsible for half of the financial commitments each province presently provides to the betterment of its citizens through the delivery of public education services for disabled children like Logan and Zachary.
I call upon you, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, to explain to the hard-working parents of disabled kids in Ontario why your financial commitment to their well-being has been drastically reduced from the original commitment. It has gone from a 50 per cent partnership to less than 18 per cent support today.
Logan and I will be patiently waiting while you try to figure out what is more important to your government: a 40 per cent pay increase for yourself or a chance for Zachary and Logan to be equal among their peers in society.
Mark-Alan Whittle.