Disenfranchising Parents in Manitoba
We live in a time of greatly expanding government power. And I’m not just talking about all the myriad COVID restrictions! Whether federally or provincially, many of our political elite are becoming dangerously monolithic, controlling more facets of our lives, refusing debate, belittling opposition, and ignoring the supremacy of God. Their duty to serve their constituents is being eclipsed by a desire to dictate.
At the national level, we see this trend in a number of legislative proposals. The so-called “conversion therapy” ban (C-6) will make it a crime for parents to object to their child being misled into transgenderism or homosexuality. In addition, Trudeau’s far-reaching internet censorship bill (C-10) threatens to regulate everything from web pages to YouTube videos to Facebook posts, ensuring Canadian cyberspace conforms to “the government’s vision” – however skewed that vision might be.
We need to be very concerned about the silencing of Canadian voices, especially the voices of those of us in the social conservative, traditional, Catholic, or Evangelical camps. We are being increasingly marginalized by the Left and its political and media allies. It is vital that we speak up while we still can! It is also vital that we protect the mechanisms that exist to give us a voice.
One crucial mechanism is the elected local school board system.
In Manitoba, elected school boards – comprised of trustees – are responsible for setting educational policies, safeguarding the quality of schools, and directing how funds are spent at the local level. And because they are elected by ratepayers, trustees are directly accountable to you and me. The average citizen has the power to influence trustees to vote for positive pro-family, pro-parent polices and reject harmful anti-family, anti-parent policies. For example, in Ontario, parents have been working to elect school trustees who pledge to oppose radical sex education.
But the government of Premier Brian Pallister is working to obliterate the democracy-based school board system. Under Bill 64, the “Education Modernization Act”, Manitoba’s existing 37 English school divisions will be amalgamated into one single “Provincial Education Authority”. This Authority will be appointed (not elected), and it will take over the duties of school trustees.
This means that you will no longer have a vote and you will no longer have a voice!
When it comes to crafting local school policies and directing local school funds, unelected bureaucrats will be running the show. These nameless, faceless “officials” will have no allegiance whatsoever to the parents or voters in their jurisdiction. Their only allegiance will be to the politicians and other high-level bureaucrats who sign their cheques. You – the parent or voting constituent – will be left out of the equation.
A number of former school trustees from the Winnipeg area have already spoken out against Bill 64. They said: “Our school divisions are a reflection of local democracy at work... The residents of Winnipeg are able to vote for trustees who represent their values and their priorities. The proposal to eliminate these local boards is not good for students, it’s not good for schools, and it’s not good for residents.”
Bill 64 does allow for parents to participate in perfunctory volunteer positions in the new provincial educational monolith, but these roles will lack any real teeth or ability to steer the curriculum. This “olive branch” to parents is a far cry from the powers that elected trustees currently possess – the power to set local policy and the “power of the purse strings.”
A group of over 3,200 parents has expressed their outrage in a letter recently delivered to Premier Pallister and Education Minister Cliff Cullen. In this letter, concerned parents write: “It is clear that our government is using the current crisis as an opportunity, taking advantage of our collective pandemic related grief, anxiety, and fatigue, to impose radical changes to our K-12 school system... A single partisan-appointed ‘education authority’ can never make decisions for the ENTIRE province and be truly representative of diverse needs across a province as large as Manitoba... Parents will struggle to have their diverse voices heard when one central politically appointed board is formed.”
In light of this threat to democracy in Manitoba’s education system, we are asking you to please call or email to your local MLA today. Bill 64 will silence our voices! Our ability to effect pro-family and pro-parent change within Manitoba schools is being hamstrung.
It will only take a few minutes of your time to contact your legislative representative. If you are not sure what to say, I have included a sample message at the bottom of this article.
Bill 64, the “Education Modernization Act”, will strike a death-blow to democracy in the province’s English school system. A centralized, top-down government bureaucracy is no substitute for local school boards dealing with local school issues, controlled by local ratepayers.
Please join us in standing up for the right to be heard at the local school board level in Manitoba. Let’s speak out before Bill 64 passes!
Yours for Life, Family, Faith, and Freedom,
David Cooke
National Campaigns Manager
Campaign Life Coalition
P.S. You can reach your MLA here: https://gov.mb.ca/legislature/members/mla_list_constituency.html
P.P.S. To contact the Premier's office, call: 204-945-3714 or write to [email protected]
Sample Message to MLAs
I wish to express my concerns over Bill 64, the “Education Modernization Act”.
I am opposed to the amalgamation of our province’s school divisions into one massive top-down “Education Authority”, which will eliminate all democratically-elected local school trustees.
Our local schools need to be responsive to local needs and accountable to local parents, families, and ratepayers. A centralized, unelected “Education Authority” is neither truly responsive nor accountable. This top-down approach disempowers citizens and forces a one-size-fits-all approach onto our 200,000-plus students in around 700 unique schools.
A truly “modernized” Education Act would respect democracy and give Manitobans a greater say over funding and policy decisions at the local school level. Instead, Bill 64 takes away our vote and silences our voice.
Therefore, I am asking you to vote against Bill 64 when it comes up for debate in the Legislature. Thank you.