A letter to the editors of the Globe and Mail

I'm the founder and director of His Name Was Steven, an anti-bullying and teen suicide awareness organization with well over 5000 members, formed as a response to the suicide of my son due to bullying in 2006. I read your May 29th editorial comment on the current Gay/Straight Alliance controversy in Ontario schools with great interest. I am not Roman Catholic, or deeply religious, but it seems to me you are misrepresenting Cardinal Collins' comments and the content of law itself.

The safety of Ontario kids is at risk, but the Liberals don't give a damn.

If you voted for the Liberals or the NDP in the last provincial election and are likely to again in the next one, please consider the following before casting your ballot.

The quotes listed here are from a letter to concerned citizens from Lisa MacLeod, Ontario Opposition Education Critic.

The political nonsense continues at Queen's Park

The Ontario government is, as usual, refusing to listen to the voices of hundreds of thousands of citizens. Earlier this month, they claimed to have compromised by allowing schools to call their much hyped "Gay/Straight Alliance" clubs by other names. Big flippin deal! Much less attention was paid to the fact that they simultaneously removed the right of school principals to opt out of such policies. I guess that's the Liberal definition of a compromise.

Dharun Ravi sentenced to 30 days and fined.

"I haven't heard you apologize once" - Judge Glenn Berman, speaking to Dharun Ravi.

The law deems 30 days and a couple thousand in fines appropriate for driving a person to commit suicide.  A conviction on this charge ("biased crimes") requires that Tyler Clementi felt threatened, but Ravi did not need to intend to threaten him. This is a ridiculous law that likely wouldn't survive a determined Supreme Court challenge.

Some thoughts on the Ontario Education Act with respect to expulsions

I have some issues with the way the McGuinty government re-wrote the discipline rules of the Education Act in 2007. Under Sec 309 through 315, the rules for expulsion are laid out. Aside from the obvious logical contradiction of saying "The tribunals decisions are final" while also granting seemingly endless appeal rights to the pupil involved, there is another fundamental problem with these sections.

My two cents worth

I've been invited to Queen's Park to speak to The Standing Committee on Social Policy regarding the "Accepting Schools Act" (Bill 13), and the "Anti-Bullying Act" (Bill 14). I'll be presenting my thoughts on Monday, May 14th at 7:30 PM.

Regular readers will be aware that I'm no fan of the government's Bill 13, because of what it doesn't contain - accountability and reporting. If the current government wants to do something that will actually help solve the bullying problem in our schools, they must be forced to understand that their Bill 13 fails to do so.