Category: Editorials

By Paul Pimentel and Naomi Johnson
Mandatory volunteering for students, once the province of posh private academies with an over-wrought sense of noblesse oblige, has become the latest fad in public education. It’s being spun as community involvement, but what it boils down to is all students entering Grade 9 this year or later are required to complete 40 hours of community service in order to graduate. read more

By Nicholas Greenfield

If provincial elections were like wine, then this is one vintage worth forgetting. No body. No flavour. No panache.

The Ottawa Centre campaign is just like that old TV commercial for Partagé wine — the one with the sultry French woman who takes her wine very seriously — it is dry, and ow you zey?, wizout ze edge. It’s dry all right. And there hasn’t been much of an edge either. Without question, the biggest issue in Ottawa Centre is school closures and cuts to health care and the domino effect it will have on the community’s social programs. Why then have constituents been leaving all-candidate’s meetings with only more questions? Where’s the edge? Where’s that pinch in the tastebuds that says, now that’s a bottle worth investing in? read more

As OC Transpo tries to make itself even more customer-friendly, it seems to be missing the bus on another important issue.

In its latest assault on allergens, OC Transpo has decided to keep pets such as cats and dogs off buses because they trigger allergies and asthma among some riders. Earlier this year, it launched an awareness campaign to get people to refrain from wearing perfume and other scented body products on the bus. read more

Although it’s not official, the provincial election race is pretty much under way in Ottawa Centre. But one contender is struggling to the starting blocks.

With an election call expected some time this spring, both the Liberals and the NDP have high-profile candidates: Liberal incumbent Richard Patten and popular Ottawa city Coun. Elisabeth Arnold. read more