| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
 |
|||||||||||||
For
Immediate Release
Liberal move to teach outdoor education indoors flies in the face
of their promise Today’s announcement that the Ministry of Natural Resources would be teaching young people about the outdoors by asking them to spend more hours in front of the computer was baffling to Haliburton-Victoria-Brock MPP Laurie Scott. “I cannot believe that the government would close the Leslie M. Frost Centre and its valuable outdoor educational programs just so that they could launch this website”, said Laurie Scott. “Minister Ramsay has been telling us for months he closed the Frost Centre because that was not a core business of his ministry.” 1 The Liberal’s left hand seems to be operating completely independently of the right hand. As Laurie Scott put it; “Isn’t this the same Liberal government that, just two months ago, made a big hoopla about their plan to make kids more physically active?”2 Last year, shortly after closing the Frost Centre, the Liberal government announced a new website that would provide information about Conservation - the very thing the Frost Centre was famous for. In the press release announcing the Ontario Conserves website Minister Dombrowsky said “We can all make choices that lead to a cleaner, healthier environment and a better quality of life”. “It is clear that the government has made choices, and those choices have nothing to do with helping to foster a greater appreciation of the natural beauty of Ontario” said Laurie Scott. “They have chosen to spend their money creating websites that do nothing except to bring people closer to technology and further away from nature. It is far more effective for young people to learn about the natural environment through participation in programs that allow them to see, feel, smell and touch the world around them. The Liberals are not even saving money. Are you trying to tell me it was cheaper to develop these web sites than it was to run the Frost Centre?” 1 Minister Ramsay was quoted in the Peterborough Examiner as saying “Our job is not to deliver education, as noble as that goal is," (09-Jul-04) 2 Minister of Tourism and Recreation Jim Bradley announced, "Under the ACTIVE2010 strategy and the pause to PLAY campaign, the goal is to increase participation in sport and physical activity rate so that by the year 2010, 55 per cent of Ontarians are physically active." He went on to say “By encouraging increased physical activity and sport participation among our children and youth, we are establishing a strong foundation for sustaining physical activity into a healthier adulthood". (Ministry of Tourism and Recreation Press Release 19-Jul-04) -30- For More Information
Contact: |
|
 |
Site Designed & Hosted By: Computek Systems