Tory Child Care

I personally think that the new child care funding from Tory is a great idea. I think that they should made this happen years ago. For many families it is hard to finance child care, and so this can help out families, especially those with more than one child. Although it only is given out to the age of seven, I think that under certain circumstances it should be given to families until the child is out of elementary school. By these certain cirumstances I mean for the families who have single parents, or families who have both parents who work much later than school is let out. Many parents enroll their children in before and after programs, since they leave for work before school starts, and work past well after school is let out. For these families they still have to finance these costs, on top of other ones. If the child is enrolled in a before and after program I feel that those families should be given that money until it is not needed anymore. I don't know if they thought about that as being a problem, but for some families it would really be a great thing for them to have. Other than that issue, the money being given to families for child care is more than just a safe place for children to go to. For the children who are in child care facilities, they get a head start on making friends, being in a school environment, they get fed healthy good and they are being educated in a fun way. This is something that will improve the lives of many children who otherwise may not have been given a chance to take part in a memory that every child should have.

Neighbour Profile

Planes, trains, and automobiles. These modes of transportation take you to different destinations which most people have experienced, but what happens when you’ve never experienced these methods of transportation? Your name just might be Larae Armstrong. For this small town girl from Scotland Ont., living in a very rural area has limited her transportation needs and opportunities. Growing up, Larae’s modes of transportation consisted of a car, and a tractor so that she could get around her families large land at home. At the age of eighteen, since Larae has not been on many different modes of transportation, it is not surprising that she’s never been outside of Ontario besides visiting New York City. The cities that Larae has been to, such as Ottawa, Sudbury and New York City; she has traveled to by car. “Living out in the country has deprived me of exploring other methods of transportation,” she says. This is not hard to come to terms with as Larae has never been on a plane, train, subway, street car, city bus, boat or a taxi. Larae isn’t bothered by not seeing the world, she is quite content just where she is. Canada has many different things for Larae to see, as it’s the country that she would love to travel from coast to coast. She says, “I would like to fly out to the East Coast sometime in the future, or even by train.”
As Larae gets older, she hopes to encounter more and experience other modes of transportation. “Journalism will help me get out into the world and see what I’ve been deprived of,” Larae says with a smile, “like flying on a plane…as long as it doesn’t crash.”

A Night In Vegas (Election Night Reflection)

In a dark room with low red dim lights, filled with pictures of Las Vegas, and upbeat music, Ted Shelegy held his election night party. At the beginning of the night, many people were crowded around a small table, where you could vaguely see Ted Shelegy in the middle. He was not only
discussing his campaign, but also the things that mean a lot to him which has inspired him to
make changes. He started off by sharing a little about himself and his life, to get us well acquainted him. He told everyone about his two children who are in post-secondary education, which is why he felt so strongly about tuition being subsidised or free. Ted explained that if tuition was subsidised or free, then more people of all ages would attend post-secondary education, and according to him, higher education would benefit society. As the night went on Shelegy started to discuss how he felt about the environment in his local area. Being a farmer himself, he has experienced first hand the agricultural problems that farmers today are being faced with. Ted is for environmentally friendly buildings, and feels that they would have a
large impact on things. As the small crowded bar was full of people, it was hard to move in and ask further questions, but it was possible to hear Shelegy explain why he did not want his
name posted on the Green Party sign. He feels strongly about personal responsibility,
and people would need to be personally responsible to do the research and look into the Green Party to find out who was running. As people started leaving the party, Shelegy moved on and talked to people from his party, and indulged on an ice cold beer. He then once again within a few seconds, was swallowed by surrounding people. Upon leaving, the television screen that had the Rogers coverage of the election, posted that the Liberals we in the lead by a landslide. As
Shelegy saw this, he was not discouraged and still had a lot of faith in his party.

Candiate Event Story

During the week before the election, I had called the Ontario NDP office in Brantford. I called and asked for a paid staff member or volunteer. I got to talk to a gentlemen named Terry Coleman. As I proceeded to ask him questions, he told me things about their campaign such as, their main goals and the things that they want to fix. He went on to tell me that they are pushing locally more than anything, to perhaps keep things closer to home. Terry Coleman made let me know that their campaign has a policy that covers every issue, mainly for employment rights. Terry informed me that a new commissioner is needed to make new recommendations, and that they also want to raise minimum wage to ten dollars an hour. Terry stated that in a strategic sense, the government doesn’t secure manufacturing jobs, as the province loses jobs at a rate of about 10,000 a month. Terry also says that this is irresponsible for the government to not have a strategy. He feels that if we have a strategy, and a commissioner, would help improver the work force. In British Columbia, they put forth the plan that the NDP’s wish to, and it got them 10,000 jobs. The phone call was brief, as it seemed that he didn’t have a whole lot to say. The conversation was based more around the one policy that they wanted to enforce which was based around the employment area. At the end of the interview, I thanked him and asked him if he was okay with this information being displayed in an internet blog, which he did not have a problem with.

Election Night

Ted Shelegy was hosting a victory party at a local bar called Vegas Lounge, in Brantford, Ont. Upon entering the party, the atmosphere was dark, yet inviting with lights and upbeat music. It was a very social scene which made myself, and others feel very welcome. When I arrived at the party, there were many people crowded around Ted Shelegy. I hovered around the group of people, listening in to what it was he had to say, although the music was louder than his voice so I didn’t catch everything that he said. I tried to move closer to him to ask some of my own questions, but it didn’t turn out that way since there was a big mob of people. As some of the people left, more flew in faster than I could. From what I observed of the conversation, Shelegy was reflecting on his promises and ideas that he felt would better Brantford’s society as a whole.
Ted Shelegy is a teacher and a farmer, which gave him the experience of the issues that needed to be addressed. He felt that the only way these issues would be addressed, is if he himself did it. He felt that the environment around his farm and
other agricultural areas were not satisfactory or up to par. His main ideas were to have public and private buildings energy efficient and to have low costs on green energy practises. Shelegy made a big point about personal responsibility. Shelegy makes an example of personal responsibility on his Green Party promotion sign. His sign does not have his name on it, and he went on to say that this is because if people take on personal responsibility, they will make an effort to find out who is running for the Green Party.
As Ted Shelegy has tow daughters in post secondary education, he realizes the tough struggle of students paying for tuition. This is why Shelegy wants tuition to be subsidized or free. He feels if more people attend post secondary education, society would be benefited by the people of the future being educated.
As my first real hands on journalism assignment, I was at first nervous, timid and I had no idea of what to expect. As the night went on, it was hard for me to mingle as there were so many people around. As I became more comfortable with the atmosphere, I wasn’t shy about standing around him with other people and just listening to what he had to say. Even though it was only my first realy outing, I did learn many things that I need to improve on, and skills that I have already mastered. I learned that I need to be more persistent and unrelenting about anything negative that is thrown my way. This experience was good for me, and I only hope that the next outings will build my skills and my confidence in my own writing.

Bad Article in Hamilton Spectator

The one particular article that I chose in the newspaper that was considered a bad article was entitled “Short recess bad for kids, parents complain,” and was found in the Hamilton Spectator. First of all the title to me was not catchy at all, it was very bland, boring and the title made the whole article seem like a waste of space and time to the reader. The article was about schools shortening recess and not consulting parents first. The article had many different parties within it such as parents, students, teachers, school council chair, Hamilton public school board and superintendent. The whole article has she said she he said but the reporter never quotes them, they just basically paraphrase which implies that he did not actually interview, or gather the information from a primary source. The article may get the idea and the issue across to readers, but it seems as if the information is skewed in some way, as you don’t exactly know what each side really has to say as he puts words in their mouths. The content in this article was fair, it included many points to sides, but the style of the article was lacking clarity and precision. For this article to maybe have been considered a good one and not a bad one, they reporter could have interviewed more people for quotes, to make all of the sides well represented in the issue.
In a few instances the article says what a particular party is feeling, without having a direct quote from the source, so it's almost as if the reporter is telling the reader what they feel. This story was lacking many things, such as thoroughness, relevance and precision. I also didn't feel that this story was newsworthy at all, it is not relevant to the majority of the public, especially when the article says that this is only happening at one Hamilton public school.

Should Al Gore get the Pulitzer?

Some think that Al Gore deserves the Pulitzer, and some think that he doesn’t. For myself, I believe that Al Gore does deserve the Pulitzer. Some people think that his movie was over rated, and that he didn’t do much about global warming, I beg to differ. He may not have done many things physically yet, to do his part in global warming, but his movie and book called The Inconvenient Truth, really got the message out to North America about global warming.
Many people didn’t even know that we had a climate crisis ongoing, and now many more people are aware. Many North American citizens may have known about the global warming problem, but didn’t know much about it as they were never informed with proper information. With Al Gore’s movie, it got a lot of publicity and advertisement, and some may see that as a scam just for him to run for president again. I feel that Gore had great intentions, and just wanted to get his point across to people so that our generation can make a change and actually do something to stop this massive ongoing problem. Also, it wasn’t like all of his facts were made up or anything, he had evidence of every point he made, some evidence that he himself has experienced first hand.
I think that Al Gore hands down deserves the Pulitzer for his great efforts in trying to make a difference in a world that is so set in their ways, and looking at change as the end of the world. What people don’t realize is that if they don’t change their ways, then it will be the end of the world.