Laurie Scott MPP

For Immediate Release
October 10, 2006

Mcguinty liberals refuse to respond to re-opening of frost centre in haliburton county

(Toronto, ON) – Laurie Scott, MPP for Haliburton-Victoria-Brock today questioned the Premier and the Minister of Education for failing to address the re-opening of the Frost Centre, in Haliburton County.

“The McGuinty Liberals closed the Frost Centre over two years ago in the middle of summer, with no public consultation and when the Legislature was not in session,” said Scott. “This left thousands of children unable to attend outdoor education programs.”

The Leslie M. Frost Natural Resource Centre had been in operation for decades, providing outdoor education to thousands and thousands of Ontarians.

The government stuck a committee of volunteers in 2005, called the Frost Centre Working Committee, who undertook a number of public consultations and presented a report in July of 2005, entitled “The Best Use of the Leslie Frost Centre” to the Minister of Government Services, Gerry Phillips.

Since then, The Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal, David Caplan, has received two Requests for Proposals for the Frost Centre to be re-opened. The delay in responding is now over six weeks long and Scott today asked the Premier if he has any ambition to re-open the facility.

“The Frost Centre Working Committee needs to be recognized for their tireless work on behalf of the Frost Centre and the people it serves,” stated Scott. “It’s a shame that the McGuinty Liberals are dragging their feet and ignoring those efforts.”

“This is just one more case of the McGuinty Liberals breaking promises and refusing to be straight with the hardworking people of Ontario,” said Scott. “If the Premier and his cabinet are even the least bit concerned about the environment and education as they propose to be, they would be up front with the people of Haliburton County and the rest of Ontario by responding to questions about the Frost Centre.”

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For Further Information Contact:
Laurie Scott, MPP
705- 324-6654
1-800-424-2490

Hansard Enclosed

Ms. Laurie Scott (Haliburton–Victoria–Brock):

My question is to the Premier. Last week, the Environmental Commissioner stated that your record on the environment is right there in the title: “Neglecting Our Obligations.” In the report, he stated that the McGuinty government lacks action in nearly every area of environmental management, including outdoor education.

An article in today’s Toronto Star states that some young children are expecting to see whales in Lake Simcoe. This is from the government, where the Premier calls himself the “education Premier.”

It’s clear that the McGuinty Liberal government has failed to provide the children of Ontario with adequate environmental education.

Minister, other than the sudden closure of the Leslie M. Frost Natural Resources Centre two years ago, what are you doing to educate our children to be good environmental stewards?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty (Premier, Minister of Research and Innovation):
To the Minister of Education.

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne (Minister of Education):

There’s always a debate with some of these subjects around whether you have a set module or whether you weave the issue throughout the curriculum. Let me tell you what we’ve done.

The revised grades 1 to 8 social studies, history and geography curriculum that was released in August 2004 and the revised grades 9 to 12 Canadian and world studies curriculum all have the environment and environmental studies as part of what they do. I think that’s the philosophy, that we need to weave that environmental studies throughout all of our curriculum areas.
The other issue is that we are in the process of setting up a curriculum council, and these are the kinds of issues that need to come, when it’s gender studies or whether it’s environmental studies: Those need to come to the curriculum council and be assessed at that point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Ms. Scott:

Minister, there’s nothing that can replace going to an outdoor education centre and children seeing firsthand the effects of nature, and how we have to work in conjunction with nature to be good environmental stewards.

When the Environmental Commissioner says, “Under your government, outdoor education is increasingly under threat,” if you’re so committed to education and the environment as you say you are, will you tell us today when you’re going to reopen the Frost Centre, or is this just another broken promise by the self-proclaimed “education Premier?”

Hon. Kathleen O. Wynne (Minister of Education):

I know that the member opposite wasn’t in the caucus in 1998, when the previous government cut environmental studies from the curriculum altogether, but she does have to take some responsibility for the philosophy of the previous government.

What we’ve done in our review of the curriculum is we’ve actually built environmental studies back into the curriculum. There is a school of thought in pedagogy, in elementary particularly, that suggests that you really shouldn’t be segmenting these subjects; you actually should be weaving environmental studies and science and geography together. It’s called an integrated curriculum. What we are doing is providing those pillars of learning throughout the curriculum. That’s sound pedagogical practice