The respect for Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty increased manifolds in my heart when the first South Asian Vice President of University of Toronto (Mississauga campus), Dr. Deep Saini said (to me in an interview) that given the recession and tough economic times, educators were expecting funding cuts to education sector, but none were made. He was pleased with McGuinty administration on maintaining his promise of focus on education.
The Ontario government has built 400 new schools and 18 new hospitals. It has repaired 12,000 schools, and dozens of hospital renovations projects are underway.
Just recently, Premier Dalton McGuinty has introduced full day of kindergarten, a move that has been much criticized by the opposition, but he stands firm on it.
“Families in 2010 in Ontario, and much of the world, lead hectic lives..One of the things we’ve done is create a new option – it’s just an option- for parents. Instead of taking your child to point A in the morning, then to kindergarten, then to point B after school, before you can take them home, what if you can take them home before school starts? So there is full-day kindergarten. Some parents might say, ‘I’m not sending my children to kindergarten.’ The law in Ontario says you don’t have to send your kids to school until they are six years of age full time..But we’ve created two new options: one is to send your child to full-day kindergarten and the other one, which will be rolled out fully next year, will involve pre and post-school programs. We’re trying to make their [parents’] lives more manageable and easier.”
At the same time doubling the number of international students in Ontario universities and colleges is also on Premier McGuinty’s agenda. This begs the question: do the educational institutions in Ontario have capacity to hold double the number of international students as well as local students.
As a leader, Mr. McGuinty has set a goal: “that’s the job of the leader.” His administration is working with college and university leaderships to find innovative ways of accommodating local as well as international students. The best way forward, in his opinion is “to do it in a way that enriches the educational experience for all our students, who are coming from abroad and students who are living here.”
The government has made strident, but lesser known efforts (especially in the South Asian community and youth) to address the issue of tuition at colleges and universities in Ontario and debts that ensue it.
“We’ve allowed students to keep more money, and make more money while they’re going to school without compromising their ability to take a loan. We said that when it comes time to repay the loan, if you haven’t paid it after 15 years, we’re going to write it off. We’ve also said that if you borrow more than $7,300 annually – anything beyond $7,300 – we’re going to pay it off. So I am convinced that we can find a way to invite more international students here to participate in education. It’s good for our students, it’s good for international students and it’s good for the growth of our economy,” he says.
In response to the question that with so many students graduating from colleges or universities, are there enough good paying jobs for them, he said “Keep in mind that this is what StatsCanada has told us – I think it’s because they were able to use the long-form census – but they told us in 2004, that when it comes..[to] first generation Canadians, their children tend to do better in school, stay longer in schools and get better jobs. It tells me new Canadians are net positive for economic growth. So when it comes to graduating from our schools, our students are doing very well, they’re getting good jobs, and making powerful contributions.”
Whenever there is a need for volunteers for canvassing for political campaigns or at any event such as RBC Desifest, Masala Mehndi Masti, India Day Parade, Telus South Asian Mosaic Festival, Rogers Miss India Canada and Rogers Miss India Worldwide, Scotia Bank Diwali Fiesta or Miss Pakistan worldwide pageant, eyes turn to youth. Yet, my firm belief is that youth are not taken seriously enough, especially by corporate Canada. In fact our South Asian youth is shunned off as “not consumers” or “not our buyers” of Canadian banks and financial sectors, telecom industry, airlines, automobile industry, fashion industry, supermarkets and, yes, even, the government and the list goes on. I wonder who buys the latest iPhone model first, who goes to Future Shop and Best Buy to buy iPads and laptops, who gets crazy after that eye-shade colour at the Bay, who spends hundreds of dollars on shoes and clothes and why the youth does not need to know about jobs in Peel Police, OPP or Canadian Armed Forces.
So I had to ask top Ontario ofical what he thinks about youth not being taken seriously enough.
“There’s always more that we can and should do to plug into energy, creativity, passion and idealism of young people. Any society that fails to take advantage of the idealism of youth does itself a tremendous disservice. And I started something new today [August 30th]; I’ve begun a twitter account. And I didn’t get that idea from people over the age of 50; I got it from younger people, who have helped me understand that the world is changing. I’ve been Premier for years, and the way my kids would put it, it is 24 iPod generations. The world is changing quickly and we need to understand that in order to succeed we’re going to have to turn to young people with their fearless enthusiasm when it comes to finding success.”
Does the top Ontario elected representative feel there is political apathy among youths?
“I’m not sure it’s as much apathy as it is a case of young people wanting to know that they can actually make a difference. They need a sense of satisfaction, a sense of reward that comes from knowing that it is possible to make a positive difference.”
Liberal Ontario Premier sees a great value in South Asian youth in bridging gaps between Canada and South Asian region.
“..I’m going to need their help, Canada and Ontario. We don’t do enough trade with India; India is a powerful growing economy with tremendous opportunities and challenges. Infrastructure is an incredible struggle for India, educating all their children is a huge struggle for India..I want to be able to go [to India] and say, I have thousands of Indo Canadians living here, and I want to work with them to do business with you.”
Nonetheless, some circles of Indo Canadian community feel frustrated on not moving forward fast enough with the MoUs signed when the trade delegations are taken either provincially or federally to India.
Premier McGuinty’s response is frank. “Agreements don’t create jobs, business does.”
In his first trip to India, McGuinty administration signed over 35 agreements that materialized into $65 million worth of business in Premier McGunity’s second trip. For his third trip, Mr. McGuinty has set even a higher goal.
Speaking of strengths of South Asian community, Mr. McGuinty said “there’s a high appreciation..[for] the importance of education..There is a natural and relaxed openness and diversity [in South Asian community], I just see it as something that is simply not an issue.”
The Premier of one of the most diverse parts of the world is cognizant of the need of immigrant population in our province. “In five years, we’re not going to be able to grow and build the Ontario labour force without immigrants,” he says.
But are the needs of immigrant communities different from those of the established ones?
“The more established communities have more of a sense of community” when it comes to infrastructure as there are churches and community centres people can go to. “Those who are new arrivals may not have that kind of infrastructure in place,” he says.
According to the study commissioned by the Livesaving Society, new Canadians are four times more likely to be not able to swim. What can government do to prevent drowning related deaths?
“That’s a sad, tragic aspect..To me it’s kind of intuitive. What it speaks to is the need on our part to, at a minimum, educate the parents so that they can speak to their kids. But ideally, to give these kids the opportunity to learn how to swim. The things that we discovered for example, that comes with education. The single most powerful indicator as to whether or not you are going to go to college or university is whether your mother or your father finished high school and college or university. So the most powerful indicator of whether a child will know how to swim is whether their parents know how to swim. So if we can get one child to learn how to swim, we know that his/her children are more likely to swim. That’s how we begin.”
If the immigrants are contributing so much to Ontario’s labour force, should they have a right to vote municipally or provincially?
Mr. McGuinty’s response is “there are special privileges that come with being a citizen and one of them is the right to vote.”
Father of four, Premier McGuinty strongly believes in family values. Does he feel there is a cultural or generational gap between him and his kids?
His honest answer is “Maybe a little bit, but I work very hard to make sure that it does not develop into anything that is not manageable..where we can always find common ground is our general value set, our love for one another as a family. It’s all very important.”
Mr. Guinty’s advice and plea to South Asian youth is “I need you. You have the best of both worlds, and we need to see it that way. You have parents that are steeped in culture and tradition from another part of the world. Don’t shun that, don’t shed that, don’t develop this misconception that the best thing you could do to be fully Canadian, Ontarian or Western is to somehow abandon that. That would be a mistake for you and Ontario. So you want to take that, and you want to marry that with the opportunities and the cultures and the customs and traditions that are found here. We need you to stay in school and develop your skills, and education. I need you to determine how it is that you are going to make a contribution to our society. I’m not talking about a job, everybody gets a job, everybody pays taxes, but you need to find a way beyond that. What are you going to do? And at minimum you have to help look after your mother and father, you have to look after your brothers and sisters. If you have a cousin in trouble you have to help that cousin. Those are the type of things that make you good members of responsible and loving families, but beyond that you have to help the community here in Ontario. Consider going into public office, consider volunteering, consider how you are going to help all of us.”
And, yes, of course, Premier McGuinty knows much about Bollywood stars like Abhishek and Amitabh. He has met Ashwariya Rai, the second prettiest woman in the world after his wife who is also his high school sweet heart.
Author: Asma Amanat
