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Page 15 Page 15 THE MAN NEXT T0 HARRY ASSAD IS BOB NIXON THE NEXT PREMIER OF ONTARIO. READ THE FOLLOWING EXTRACTS OUT OF HIS BLUEPRINT FOR GOVERNMENT * EDUCATION * Accordingly, a Nixon government's most fundamental reform will be the transfer, within its first term of office, of 80 percent of education costs away from land assessment. Twenty percent of $1.55 billion is quite enough tor municipalities to raise from land assessments; provincial revenues must pay for the rest. The first step of this policy will be to provide relief for farmers from the burden of education assessments. A Liberal government will make a flat extra payment to school boards equivalent to 30 percent of the funds they now receive from property taxes on farms; this payment would then be passed on to the farmers in the form of tax reductions. * Qur second basic reform is more a matter of emphasis than of legislation. In every way possible, a Nixon government will attempt to restore the spirit of local autonomy in education which the Tory government, with its arbitrary attempts at centralization, has done so much to undermine. The remaining elements of the Liberal educational policy are directed towards increased efficiency and cost control. A Nixon government will: , * Reduce the costs of school and university buildings by requiring architects to submit competitive tenders. (In one school district, North York, this technique resulted in savings of 20 percent.) * Merge the Department of Education and the Department of University Affairs into a new Department of Education. Since rehabilitation is an, integral part of the educational process, the present Department of Correctional Services will also be included in the new department. * Establish a cabinet committee on education, training -and rehabilitation services, to co-ordinate decision-making among all the departments and agencies involved. * Establish an independent University Commission to oversee the development of post-graduate education centres in Ontario. At present, there is no agency which can scrutinize applications for new graduate programs in the light of manpower demands and duplicated facilities elsewhere in the province. Post-graduate education is one of the costliest elements in our total "mix"; a Liberal government hopes to ensure that, at a time when we're short of doctors, the graduate schools aren't busy turning out nuclear physicists who can't find jobs. * Insist that universities and community colleges adopt the trimester system. We can no longer afford to have costly buildings standing idle about one-third of the time. * Empower the legislature's Committee on Human Resources to carry out a wide-ranging public investigation of education costs, to determine the extent of the duplication that exists in various areas between the colleges of applied art and technology, the secondary schools, the agricultural institutions and the universities. The Committee's enquiries should be assisted by independent management consultants. The present government's approach to this idea provides an interesting contrast. The most searching review of educational costs now underway is being conducted under the authority of the former deputy minister of education -- the civil servant who, along with Bill Davis, had the most to do ith incurring them! The accused is standing in judgment of himself, so no one should be surprised at a "not guilty" verdict. * Pass legislation requiring provincially-assisted universities and colleges to make full disclosure of their accounts according to uniform categories determined by the provincial auditor; and empower the auditor to establish regulations concerning budgetary and financial control procedures. * Grant equal tax support to separate school boards up to the end of Grade 12, providing such schools are open to children of any religion, and promote co-operation on the local level between school boards. ***Phase out Grade 13 over a period of four years. * Experiment with new modes of decision-making within selected secondary schools, involving teachers, students and parents from the local community, in an attempt to find alternatives to the present authoritarian system. * Restructure university governments by creating unicameral govern- ing councils that would have limited government representation, community representatives and university management as ex officio members, and not less than 50 percent representation from within the University. * Study ways of improving financial assistance to needy secondary as well as post-secondary students in order to open up post-secondary education to all social and ethnic peoples in Ontario. ; Vote LIBERAL elect the man next to Bob Nixon LABOUR + Certification procedures must be reformed. 50% plus one should ensure certification without a vote instead of the present 65%. # A Liberal Government will vigorously support the principle of equal pay for equal work and equal job opportunities for men and women. x We will promote the establishment of day care centres on working premises. # Provincial minimum wage legislation will be amended to automatically reflect changes in cost of living. + Employee representatives should sit on joint boards to administer employee pension plans and all pensions should be portable. + We will amend the Labour Relations Act to make it possible for those employees who have individually contracted with management to be represented by a union. «x We will also support the trend within the labour movement towards "Canadianization" of the Canadian branches of U.S.-based unions. Canadian members of such unions should have the power to elect not only their own directors to international executives, but to elect Canadian executives to deal directly and independently on behalf of Canadian workers. At present, most international unions elect Canadian officers by vote of the entire international. ? WOMEN * Negotiate with Ottawa to extend unemployment insurance benefits to compensate women for any loss of income suffered through childbearing. * Plug loopholes in the Equal Opportunity Act so that sexual discrimination in employment is completely forbidden. Well also amend the Ontario Human Rights Code so that any form of discrimination on the basis of sex -- on the job, in accommodation, or wherever -- is strictly prohibited. * Day-care centres are no substitute for parental care. But in an economy that is so heavily dependent on female labour, they are an absolute necessity. Heres the steps we plan to ensure that adequate day-care facilities are accessible to every woman who needs them: * The province already pays 80% of the operating costs of municipal day-care centres. As additional encouragement, a Liberal government, will pay 80% rather than the present 50% of the cost of building such centres. * We'll insist that day-care fees be based on a sliding scale related to income. We'll also inject more flexibility into present provincial standards" for day-care staffs; as it is, arbitrary regulations are hampering volunteer and citizens' groups who would like to start their own centres. * We'll move strongly to encourage the acceptance of women in more responsible jobs, starting with one of Ontario's biggest employers -- the provincial government. We'll make special efforts to attract women trainees to the provincial public service, and make sure that opportunities for advancement are available. We'll also insist that companies doing business with the government don't discriminate against women; in fact, we'll insert a clause to this effect in our contracts. LAW REFORM A Nixon government is pledged to making justice both just and accessible to people. Accordingly, these are some of the reforms, goals and priorities that will be pursued by the Justice Department in a Liberal government: . y We will appoint an ombudsman who will have independent power to investigate arbitrary action by government officials, to make reports to the minister responsible or, if no action is forthcoming within thirty days, to the legislature. % We will end the practice of introducing general legislation which conceals its true objective and leaves real policy-making to the bureaucrats. * We will introduce information programs to make the law more accessible to the public, including a codification of the law. ~ = A Nixon government will move to protect individual rights against the powers of the courts themselves. In particular: "a * We are putting too many people in jail who don't belong there. To minimize the dangers of detention without trial, a Liberal government will insist on twenty-four-hour criminal courts and bail facilities in all cities. The use of summons rather than arrest, and personal bail rather than cash bail, will become the general rule throughout Ontario.