Ontario's Education Minister Lisa Thompson attends Question Period at the Ontario Legislature in Toronto on Thursday, August 2, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris YoungChris Young/The Canadian Press
The comments highlighted today focus on education and addiction.
From Falling Ontario test scores add to national math debate by Caroline Alphonso
If you want to get to the root of the problem, the teachers need to be tested in their math skills (and possibly other disciplines). Then corrective action needs to be taken including retraining and possibly the release of teachers deemed incompetent. – Kim McGregor
Sweeping conclusions are being drawn using co-relational data. E.g. “new” math curriculum introduced “caused” declining math scores. While this could be, there has been a leap to conclude it must be the teachers' fault. There have been other educational and societal changes during this time, likely contributing. It would take an essay to describe and reference all that has happened in the past decade. Firstly, textbooks were deemed “passe” (saving money could have been the goal). Having worked with student textbooks and workbooks I can tell you they were superior to the current system where the teacher must pull all of the materials together from “somewhere” to meet curriculum expectations. They also included a useful problem solving component and workbooks provided practice. The smartphone came into being as well as other advances in gaming. Attention spans of students decreased and distraction of parents has increased. There is a literature showing parents lack of eye contact and attention to babies/children is changing children’s neurological development. Add behaviour problems, few consequences, hot/crowded classrooms, poor nutrition, ESL, and you can see it is not that simple. – MzZoe
The liberal government was a massive failure on the education file. The test scores are abysmal, there has been a huge spike in the tutoring industry and Ontario teachers are some of the highest paid in North America. Ontario taxpayers were really taken for a ride. – Janet Miller 77
From B.C. alleges 20 years of deception in opioid lawsuit by Andrea Woo and Karen Howlett
In this June 1, 2018 file photo, small vials of fentanyl are shown. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)Rick Bowmer/The Associated Press
David Eby in B.C. is doing what the Trudeau government refuses to do--the right thing. Makes you wonder how Purdue can plead guilty before a trial in the U.S. and pay close to a billion in damages and yet not be guilty of the same conduct in Canada. This drug was purposefully marketed as a non-addictive pain killer and has cost billions in social and health costs. I’d sure like to know why the Federal government is not taking the lead on this. – MaryJay1
Which prompted the following responses
Simple. The court system in the U.S. is far more lenient and Purdue decided that paying for a settlement was the economical thing to do. #1 reason why drug prices are so much higher in the U.S. – Andrew Smith
Health Canada appears to be nothing more than a handmaiden to the industry and politicians are faced with a strong 'pharma lobby that they lack the guts to deal with.
Fines are simply the cost of doing business; jail time for culpable executives is probably the best approach.
Drug trials should be sequestered and not directly sponsored by those who stand to profit. Trials must only show that the product is better than placebo and benefits are routinely overstated while risks are understated. In addition there is often outright lying or failure to disclose serious harms and unfavourable studies are not published. – DennisCasaccio
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