[Guest]

I only mentioned the Toronto auto insurance rates, because I heard during the NDP campaign in Ontario, that the auto insurance rates in Toronto were the highest in the country!!! Obviously, they\'re too high many places.

As for university, I don\'t see why free university is such a foreign concept. You called it a nice idea, but don\'t forget, UNIVERSITY IS FREE IN MANY EUROPEAN COUNTRIES! In France, for example, even an out of town student only has to pay somehting like a $80 registration fee! Really. Only 80 bucks, that\'s it!

I\'ve heard the argument a million times, that people don\'t value what they don\'t work for. I admit this can be true, but for every person in Europe who pisses away their free education, there\'s another person who may never have had the motivation to go in the first place, without the financial help. Personally, I know a number of people who aren\'t rich, but COULD make enough money to pay for university, but would be cutting it tight, and don\'t have the finacnial and emotional support of caring parents to fall back on. These are the people who often have little motivation to go, despite their young age, and quite often talent. I just don\'t see why university shouldn\'t be free, as long as we can afford it -which we can, with a better money policy, and slightly higher corporate taxes. My guess is adults are simply bitter that it would mean something extra for young people, that they never got as kids. Big deal. As I mentioned earlier, it\'s even been mentioned in the socialite community, by people who pay more attention to Europe.

Bottom line, I just don\'t see how burdening people with 10 - 100 000 dollars of debt at a young age makes sense. They\'ll easily pay it back in taxes, much faster, if you pay for their education, in many cases. Remember, people are living past age 100, already. Who knows how many years todays young people will live to pay taxes.....maybe indefinitely, given some medical advances.

On another note, we MUST GET OUT OF NAFTA, or any attmepts to publicly-fund university at 100% could be grounds for yet another silly lawsuit from an American company, trying to make money at the expense of our public institutions. Mel Hurtig warned of this, and mentioned how our academics have been completely myopic, reagrding this fact. Hurtig knows!

[Guest]

It actually wasn\'t about my feelings, it is that name calling is the traditional method of directing people away from the issues and towards something else. That is what all politicians do, when they don\'t know what they are talking about...I just thought that the debate had sound arguments which shouldn\'t be clouded by a distraction. We really need the facts, the truth is what we are all seeking here; in order to save what\'s left of this country!

[Guest]

I certainly understand your frustration, however I still think free University is not motivational. It certainly should be reasonable, but not free. Your contention that adults are bitter because they didn\'t have it when they went through is rather general. Every generation that I can think of, has always strived for their children to have better, than they had, never worse. Nobody wants to see young people hurt. I for one am not affected by high insurance rates, but it doesn\'t stop me from writing to my elected officials to complain! It is in our best interest to provide the best education we can to our young people and that includes, primary, high school and post secondary, because the next generation will be running this country and therefore we will reap what we sow!

The argument about value has a price, I stick to! I have seen many young people driving their parents vehicles, or being given one when they turned 16 yrs; then I saw other young people who worked for theirs, the difference in attitude, respect for not only their vehicle but other people\'s property in general transfers. Easy come, easy go...as I said before incentives for good grades, grants and reasonable fees would make University available to everyone. I know free would be easier for many, but the cost to us when it is wasted is not a good investment,maybe if we reduced overall costs and gave rebates for performance, that might work. I agree that publicly run education is a necessity, but I\'m not buying the free angle. Sorry, call me bitter if you need to!

[N Say]

I think every university or department has their own kind of bludgeon they hold over the students\' heads. At UVic if your GPA drops below a certain point you get put on probation & if you don\'t improve you get thrown out. I did a distance-ed SFU course over the summer & when I went to write the final the invigilatior/marker told us that we better make sure all our assignments were in or else we\'d get an F. At Canada\'s MIT, U of Waterloo (world\'s largest educational centre for math & comp sci) math students have to get >80% in all their 1st & 2nd-year courses before they can sign up for upper-level courses. The money thing would motivate students, but I think it\'s the bludgeon universities have over the students\' heads that motivates them more.

---
"Finally I am becoming stupider no more." - epitaph of mathematician Paul Erdos

[Guest]

We\'ll agree to disagree. I still think we should provide free university IF we can afford to. As for the \"You\'ll value it more\" argument, it\'s very true, but there are exceptions. My best friend was driving his parents 2000 Toyota Camry XLE by age 17 a couple of years ago, a 42, 000 (new) car, and he treated it better than any adult I know treats his/her car.

I believe equality means we must take care of the exceptions. Maybe financial help (bursaries) could at least be given to people with little money, given they qualify?

[Guest]

I agree, the bureaucracy is quite annoying, and somewhat articificial, given they are public universities....don\'t get me strated bout public secondary school boards.

[Guest]

And expand what we have!

[sthompson]

Apparently he has also promised to launch an inquiry into the death of aboriginal protestor Dudley George at the hands of a police sniper, which would certainly have been a long-time coming. <p> For more info seem Amnesty International's statement on McGuinty's promise: <a href-="http://www.amnesty.ca/IndigenousPeoples/DudleyGeorge.htm">Why there must be a public inquiry</a>

[sthompson]

Oops--here\'s the link: http://www.amnesty.ca/IndigenousPeoples ... George.htm