In the Ontario Legislature – November 15, 2006

STATEMENTS BY MINISTRY AND RESPONSES

ANTI-BULLYING INITIATIVES / SENSIBILISATION CONTRE L'INTIMIDATION
Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne (Minister of Education)kwynne.mpp@liberal.ola.org: "I rise in the House today to recognize Bullying Awareness Week. Tous les élèves ont le droit de se sentir en sécurité à l'école et sur le terrain de l'école. Nous savons que les écoles sécuritaires sont une condition préalable au rendement des élèves. During this week, I hope that students, teachers and parents alike will take some time to consider the issue of bullying and the role it may be playing in their lives or in the lives of others."

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"Our government takes bullying prevention very seriously. Bullying and violent behaviour are never acceptable in Ontario's schools or communities. That is why our government has invested more than $20 million in various initiatives to reduce these incidents and change attitudes towards bullying. I'd like to highlight some of these initiatives. Our safe schools action team, led ably by my parliamentary assistant, Liz Sandals, released its bullying prevention report, Shaping Safer Schools, in late 2005, and recommendations from the report led directly to the implementation of a comprehensive, province-wide bullying prevention plan. As part of that plan, we have invested $3 million in a three-year partnership with Kids Help Phone, thus doubling the 24-hour, seven-days-a-week, toll-free helpline's capacity to provide anonymous counselling to students who are dealing with bullying issues."

"That partnership was expected to help an additional 30,000 students each year. In fact, for the first half of 2006 alone, I can report that the Kids Help Phone counsellors received and responded to 21,583 contacts from Ontario youths -- an increase of 16% compared to the same period in 2005. And for bullying-related calls, the increase was a remarkable 224%. Our government has also provided funding in the amount of $1,500 for every elementary school, $2,000 for every secondary school and $1,500 for each school authority for resources to support a bullying prevention program in every publicly funded school in Ontario."

"And we've established a registry of bullying prevention programs on the ministry's website to provide one-stop access to a wide range of products that may be purchased to help schools and boards combat bullying. Au début de la présente année scolaire, une brochure sur la prévention de l'intimidation a été envoyée aux écoles, pour qu'elles la transmettent aux parents par l'entremise des élèves. Elle a aussi été affichée sur le site Web du ministère. Si les parents soupçonnent que leurs enfants font l'objet d'intimidation, ils peuvent y apprendre ce à quoi il faut faire attention, ce qu'il faut faire et où aller pour trouver de l'aide. Especially important in this age of information technology, our government has also developed cyberbullying software for grade 7 and 8 students. This software is intended to make our children safer online by raising awareness of the cyber landscape, especially around issues such as internet luring, cyberstalking and the use of gaming websites."

"The ministry has created a bullying prevention training program for principals and vice-principals, and training for teachers is being planned for the 2007-08 school year."

"Let me also add that last month our Premier announced $2 million in funding to support character building in schools and inspire students to become caring and contributing citizens. We firmly believe that character education in our schools will be fundamental in the fight to reduce bullying."

"Our government is making significant progress on bullying prevention as part of our $26.2-million investment to make Ontario schools safer. We are making progress by working with the people who teach our children and who run our schools."

"Bien que les progrès soient manifestes, nous ne sommes pas au bout de nos peines."

"So I ask that everyone join the effort to reduce bullying in schools and playgrounds around our province."

Mr. Frank Klees (Oak Ridges)frank.klees@pc.ola.org: "In response to the minister's recognition of Bullying Awareness Week, isn't it sad that we have to have the Minister of Education rising in this House to give credit to Bullying Awareness Week? Why isn't the government doing something about it? In her own statement, she admits that bullying has increased 224% within the last year. You've done absolutely nothing about this. I refer to a statement that I made in this House on May 16, 2006. In that statement, I refer to the fact that the previous two ministers did nothing about this issue. I challenged the former minister at the time to take up Lions Quest, which is a program developed by Lions Clubs across this province. They have tried to get an appointment, a meeting, with the two previous ministers of education. They're asking this minister for a meeting so they can talk about their program, which talks about how to deal with bullying. It was developed by the Lions Clubs in this province, highly successful, being used in York region and across the province. It is volunteer-driven, not a cost to the government."

"Now what do we have? The minister standing up and saying she is going to have the ministry develop another program about bullying. Minister, deal with the facts. You have a problem with bullying. People across the province know there's a problem. You're not doing anything. I'm asking you, meet with the Lions Club, implement the Lions Quest program across the province, get the volunteers engaged and do something about the issue."

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"Minister, my question is the following: If my grandmother or my cousin had a great idea of how to make democracy and the election system more efficient and meaningful, could they enter this public consultation process easily? How difficult is it for ordinary citizens to participate in this reform?"

Hon. Marie Bountrogianni (Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, minister responsible for democratic renewal)mbountrogianni.mpp@liberal.ola.org: "I'd like to thank the member from Davenport for his question. I know that he believes very strongly in the work done by the citizens' assembly and its significance for the people of Ontario."

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Michael A. Brown): "The member for Niagara Centre will come to order. I will not warn you again."

"Minister."

Hon. Mrs. Bountrogianni: "Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm pleased to see the enthusiasm of the NDP for the citizens' assembly. We're advancing an ambitious democratic renewal agenda. We want to encourage many Ontarians to review our electoral system, and that is why we asked the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform to hold public consultations."

"Le calendrier de consultation publique est affiché en ligne. Le site Web sera mis à jour au fur et à mesure que d'autres sites sont ajoutés. À ce jour, 37 sites ont été confirmés."

"If Ontarians cannot attend, like your grandmother, but would like to express their views, online, fax and mail submissions are also welcome. The examination of Ontario's electoral system will re-engage voters and reduce voter cynicism. This government has taken an unprecedented step in empowering the citizens of this province and wants them to have the final say on any potential electoral" --

The Speaker: "Supplementary."

Mr. Ruprecht: "The right to vote for one's representative came at a high price. Even in our own country, right here, it took over a hundred years for our electoral system to evolve so that all Canadians can vote and have a right the vote. Yet, two days ago, at this municipal election that we've just had, we had an abominable turnout. The voter turnout was less than 50%. Madam Minister, you need a plan. My question is the following: We want to engage as many Ontarians as possible, including our young people. How do we go about that, and what are we doing to increase especially the number of youth engaged in this particular process?"

Hon. Mrs. Bountrogianni: "Our government feels it's very important to engage the youth in this process, and that's why a Students' Assembly on Electoral Reform has been established, with one student from each of the 103 ridings. They're in the gallery today, and I thank them for the work they're about to do. They will spend this weekend learning and debating our current electoral system as well as others from around the world, and they will then make a recommendation to the Citizens' Assembly based on their values. This is an example of how we can engage the youth and work to increase their future participation in our democracy. I would like to thank them for their hard work. They're joining us today in a reception at 4 o'clock. I'd like to welcome everyone here to meet their students, the students who represent their ridings, and to encourage them on this very important democratic process."