An Open Letter from Ontario’s New Democratic Party To The Province’s Education Minister Liz Sandals
December 16th, 2015
Dear Minister,
Students and families across Ontario were shocked by this month’s scathing Auditor General Report. Several sections of this report highlight serious shortcomings in your department and that of the Ministry of Transportation.
I am calling on you to take the recommendations of the Auditor General seriously and to immediately act in several key areas that will help ensure the safety of students as they travel to and from school.
Notably, the Auditor General is concerned that you have taken a “hands off approach,” to safety by not setting guidelines for collision and incidents reporting among transportation consortia. Approximately one in eight school buses, carrying 830,000 kids annually, was involved in a crash.
In total, 12 per cent of school buses were involved in collisions, compared to 4 per cent of automobiles, 2 per cent of trucks and 16 per cent of other buses. Minister, it seems obvious that the best way to prevent future collisions and incidents is to understand their causes—I hope you will commit to keeping these records in the future.
The Auditor General’s report demonstrates that your department and the Ministry of Transportation, cannot work cooperatively to ensure that the busses taking our students to and from school pass proper safety inspections.
The Auditor General noted that the Ministry of Transportation provides little oversight over privately operated Motor Vehicle Inspection Stations (MVIS) to ensure that they conduct thorough inspections before certifying school vehicles.
In fact, the report highlights that over the last five years; only 12 stations where school bus operators inspected their own buses were actually investigated. There is no requirement for private MVIS to report to the Ministry of Transportation about their inspections.
Minister, ensuring the safety of our elementary and secondary school aged students is a fundamental role of government. Unfortunately, the Auditor General’s report makes it clear that your government is failing to deliver even on the essentials.
I hope you will immediately address the inadequacies in your department and ensure parents that their children are safe as they travel to and from school.
Sincerely, Ontario NDP Education Critic Lisa Gretzky
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