School pools are a health and safety issue

Posted on April 29, 2008
Filed Under Politics, News |


TheStar.com | ParentCentral | Pool money should be public: Crombie

“No one has ever said we shouldn’t have these pools; they’re important for safety and teaching good social habits and they’re absolutely wonderful for the disabled and for older people,” said the former Conservative MP, who said he hopes to find a funding solution by the end of June.

Toronto public school pools are set to close because there is no funding. There is no funding because of the awful way the Ontario government changed the funding formula in the mid-1990s. The TDSB is the only Board of Education with such an extensive list of community schools with pools. So when a standard formula is applied across the province 1) the Toronto board will be short changed because of the extras it provides to the 2.5 million residents of the city (in particular in urban areas), 2) the (costly) pools will not get direct funding because they are atypical of all the other schools in the province.

The problem I have is where the funding is supposed to come from. The city that has been running huge deficits thanks to downloading of programs and the lack of property tax increases several years ago? The Ministry of Education that still has not reworked the funding formula to provide suitable funding across all Boards of Ed?

Child obesity has more than tripled in the last 20 years, and is only getting worse. Particularly in the communities where these pools are located; high density urban with few safe places for physical activity for children. So why is this issue not being address by Ministry of Health? They spend hundreds of millions bailing out hospitals that overspend because they know they will get more. Well how about doing something that will reduce the burden on those hospitals, specifically in 10-20 years when these kids develop early diabetes and other health issues?

True political leaders set out a path that will extend well beyond their terms in office, politicians only see the next election. The latter is going on far too much in Ottawa, but there might still be hope for Ontario. You can help them see the light on Thursday at Queen’s Park (more info @ Let’s Make Waves, or sign the online petition Save-our-pools. Restoring pool funding would be common sense, let see if this revolutionary idea gets through…

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