They've been cut from the teat.
From the office of Carol Skelton MP (Saskatoon-Biggar-Rosetown), a few details on those "spending cuts" that have "sent shockwaves through the literacy community".
We are not cutting any literacy training. Instead, we want to refocus spending for literacy on programs that teach people how to read and write, instead of funding conferences and advocacy work.[...]
Some of the old-style spending on literacy under the previous Liberal Government included:
Contracts for websites: $81,900, $45,000, $71,000 (with a consultant billing of $750 per day for work completed), and $70,000.
Contracts for promoting meetings: $53,760, $220,500.
Contracts to consultants: $57,905 paid to a media consultant for working 31 days, $800 per day to a consultant to develop a strategy, $206,600 paid to a researcher.
Salaries for Literacy industry executives: $151,561 per year to an Executive Director, $45,000 paid to a National Director for 50 days of work, $103,972 paid to an Executive Director for one year of work.
Read the full release here, which includes a few of the programs the spending is being rediirected to.
Canada has a low-literacy problem, we hear stories everyday about shortages of skilled workers, and we all understand that investing in literacy skills is crucial to building both a productive and an inclusive society,” says Brown.
“Yet the Harper government is slashing funding aimed at raising the skill levels of our workforce. These cuts will force literacy organizations across the country to shutdown. They will exacerbate the literacy problems and undermine economic growth in Canada. What they’re doing goes against common sense,” adds Brown."
The only problem I can see is the "literacy organisations" will no longer be at the trough.
Like the Canada Council on the Arts, Nac/Sow, and so many others who've had a free ride, the only pain will be that of a bunch of comfortably sequestered, taxpayer supported drones, forced out into the cold, cold world.
Maybe they thought that no one would read the fine print?
could someone find a list of various paid for writing "grants" there must be $100s of millions paid out for telefilm canada scripts never used.
the National Art Gallery has a program where they pay artists for various "works" most of which are stored in the basement , the big walls reserved for monumental "works" like "voices of fire"
"Canada has a low-literacy problem, we hear stories everyday about shortages of skilled workers"
Geez, things would be really bad if Canada didn't have the highest post secondary enrollment in the world. What planet is this clown on?
Literacy program...Mom and Dad, Mom or Dad, Dad and dads new husband, etc, etc, helps child learn to read in free time, cost to tax payers zero dollars, number of goverment windbags , priceless.
" cut from the teat"....great metaphor ;-)
Possibly more accurate would be "deworming the public anatomy"
Perhaps Canada has the highest post-secondary enrollment in the world but that doesn't mean that these people know how to read and write effectively.
I have seen first hand how "literate' some of these University graduates are.Trust me, it's not pretty.
Butcher has the right idea, but failing that, decent basic literary skills are a must in this world and if the State is going to do it, then let's encourage them to spend our money in the proper places. Revamp the curricula to be more relevant, and for God's sake
educate the teachers first!
And Butcher..ah...er... Dad's new husband?
WL said: "deworming the public anatomy"
Classic. I like it!
It will take a whole lot of clear-thinking and purpose to clean up this leftover lib mess.
Bravo zulu from the states, Kate!
Great defense of taxpayers' rights!!
Aren’t literacy skills already being handled by a major government program known as “schools”?
Education is a provincial area of responsibilty not federal.
Hey! I have this great idea! Since we spend BILLIONS on the school system already, why not ask them nicely to teach people how to read?!!!
Value for taxpayers dollars???
How shockingly unprogressive.
(and yes, isn't this something the provinces should be stepping up to the plate on?)
all of my spawn can read, three out of four in college and university now, two technical one polisci, one in grade 12. But it was hours of phonics and weekend tutoring that got them to this condition not the spell as you want system I paid taxes for.
lots of post secondary education in the soft subjects doesnt need literacy, ---- interpretive dance. puppetry , rocks for jocks.
andycanuck: "Maybe they thought that no one would read the fine print?"
Maybe they thought that no one COULD read the fine print?
enough
"Aren’t literacy skills already being handled by a major government program known as “schools”?"
Cal, when an adult walks into a highschool, and doesn't know how to read, and isn't a parent of a kid there, the first reactions of the teachers is to phone the police. Libraries, besides offering various other imporant community services and wholesom "family values" entertainment, is a place where the people who grew up after they got [kicked] out of school can go to better educate themselves so they can participate in things like employment, and this fine website.
The new government should have redirected a few million towards 'ethics and integrity in government' training, and made the courses mandatory for all Libranos.
Still the Liberals can credibly claim they couldn't READ the fine print on all the lucrative contracts they handed out...
Essentially, the entire sum for those Literacy Programs, goes to already-literate middle class bureaucrats. Not a penny goes to any literacy program. Nothing.
By the way, Canada's literacy rate is over 99%; it can't get any higher than that. And, as has been noted, education is the domain of the provinces not the federal gov't.
I've seen these Literacy Campaign brochures - which are funded by us, the taxpayer, claiming that 22% of Canadians can't read. Rubbish; that would put our ratio down to 78% literate in Canada, equivalent to a third world country.
The reality is that these Librano$ have been able to develop Jobs For Liberals; well paid, well-pensioned, many benefits, offices, computers, travel to conferences and etc. All paid by the taxpayer. And all simply bureaucratic 'advisory' councils. Not a penny goes to any person in actual need.
That includes Literacy Programs; that includes that dreadful Status of Women Drones-Nest; that includes Court Challenges; and etc, etc.
As for those students who enter university unable to spell and write properly - that doesn't mean they are illiterate. It means that they can read and write but they can't spell and can't organize a paper. That is the role of the pre-university and university departments. Not the federal government.
"9 million adults that can't read in Canada" Thats like 50% of the adult population. Oh Really, interesting that I don't know any adults that can't do at least basic reading. Little wonder as to where they pulled that statistic from!
We only pay ump-teen billion a year educating kids in school to read and write. If you can't read how you manage to make it into adulthood this day and age is beyond me. And if they could not pick it up in 13+ years of education, you really think their going to suddenly understand it now?
If their not from canada and they didn't get our educational experience, then maybe thats something they should put on their immigration form when their trying to get into this country!! (oops forgot they can't read) should be very evident to the people working in immigration then. (put a sign on em and send em back home).
There is no reason, absolutely no reason why the government should pay money for adults to learn to read. Either it's good money after bad (we already spent so much on teaching them while in school) or incredible ineptitude on the part of immigration officials!
Re: "I've seen these Literacy Campaign brochures - which are funded by us, the taxpayer, claiming that 22% of Canadians can't read."
They probabably just inadvertently or otherwise omitted the word 'new' from in front of 'Canadians'. Just more Political Correctness from the architects of fraud and deception.
Illiteracy is a serious issue. I have two children that cannot read or write.
Hrm. Come to think of it, they're not toilet trained either. Perhaps I can get more federal funding.
The entire 'literacy' industry has been a scam from the get-go. As Carol Skelton's release makes clear the funding goes to bureaucrats and flacks not to those actually doing or receiving any real schooling (what little of it is needed). Those actually teaching adult students tend to be volunteers (as my wife once was - and found that clients were few and far between).
The only places literacy needs a boost is in our existing schools where producing students who can read, write and spell seems too great a challenge.
Beyond the basics, schools should be adding economic literacy to the program. Maybe a little instruction on the true value of free markets and capitalism would help counter the socialist drivel they're doling out ('social justice', 'diversity','multiculti sensitivity', etc.)
Sadly, I've had first-hand experience hiring newly minted university graduates and, for anyone in a similar position to me, it's a scary proposition.
In my workplace I rely on accuracy when it comes to spelling, grammar and puncuation. Over the past 15 years I've not only hired university graduates but have also invited high school students to complete some work experience courses with my firm. To say that teachers are actually teaching the basics of writing, spelling and grammar is a complete farce.
It's painfully obvious that today's version of the English language is "write it like it sounds" and not "write it as it should be spelled". I could list hundreds of examples I've seen over the years but I won't bother because we've all seen it at some point or another.
I graduated Grade 12 in the late 1980s with a paltry 68% average in English and, looking back on my schoolwork, it would appear I'd be a 98% average student today. I misspelled "there" and "they're" once and spent an extra 20 minutes after school writing examples on the chalkboard for the teacher so I could show her I had learned the difference between "there" and "they're"...not to mention "its" and "it's".
The lack of spelling, puncuation and grammar skills exhibited by what appears to be the majority of today's students can only beg one question: What are they actually teaching in schools nowadays, anyway?"
It certainly doesn't appear to be Readin', Writin' & Arithmetic...
Don't even get me started on adding, subtracting, multiplying and division without using a calculator...yikes!
Seems the Liberal "Test of Literacy" is can you fill out the application forms we make! Apply for funding. Apply for make work project. Apply for contract to make work. Apply for help filling out forms....................
And yes PO'd....I know exactly what you mean.
I have to constantly struggle with my high school aged kids to get them to do work as it should be done. The lazes fare methods taught in our schools would not get these kids out of grade 8 in my day (codgerism setting in!) ....anyway, they will argue that what I'm showing them Is Not Right if it differs from what the school does! Either that or It Doesn't matter! White hair grows faster....
Re: "9 million adults that can't read in Canada" Thats like 50% of the adult population.
How many votes did the Liberals/NDP get last election? Were these individuals assisted when they tried to vote? Hmmm...
Re: "I've seen these Literacy Campaign brochures - which are funded by us, the taxpayer, claiming that 22% of Canadians can't read."
So literary campaigns are trying to reach illiterates thru a mail-out campaign? That's logical... *eyeroll*
I still remember my son, who has now graduated university, back in grade school struggling with multiplication. They did it by adding rather than learning a lifelong skill called the multiplication tables. When I asked his teacher why don't you teach this basic skill. Her reply was "We don't have time to teach the tables, we count on the parents teaching them." Needless to say I was astounded and asked the obvious question. "What about parents that don't teach this critical skill." This was answered with a shrug.
His High School science teacher told me the kids coming out of public school were functionally illiterate. My son is still not a good speller.
Of course this was all before that devil, Mike Harris, legislated testing and all the related criteria that the teacher's unions are still trying to weaken.
Looks to me like the Liebrano "literacy" thing was just another scam. Like ADSCAM. Same thing... nothing accomplished... just ridiculously expensive "jobs" for Liberal cronies to do nothing of value.
That sort of thing won't help anyone to read at all. It's all to make the Liberals richer and look good to guillible voters, nothing more.
The so-called Literacy Program by the Libs was just another in a whole series of concocted excuses to fleece the taxpayers in order to help themselves and their Liberal cronies. It is good to see that the new government isn't falling for the line of crap that the Libranos have been feeding the public all these years.
It found that the average literacy score for Canadians had not changed significantly during the nine-year period since the last major survey was conducted in 1994.
Stats Can - w3.tinyurl.com/sw8me
Among adults aged 16 to 65, about 9 million, or 42% scored below Level 3 in prose literacy — the desired threshold for coping with the increasing skill demands of a knowledge society.
Yukon and the Western provinces score above national average in literacy.
Stats Can - w3.tinyurl.com/y7sbcd
OK - lets see if I read this correctly. No improvement for 9 years. They are projecting the skills that are going to be required in a "knowledge society", and judging by their sample set, by everybody.
The questions about immigrants, natives, etc are answered in the 2nd link.
For the Easterners that didn't understand this post:
w3.dltk-kids.com/crafts/cartoons/spongebob.htm
I was going to do the "could" version too, enough, but I thought that it would be above the heads of leftie trolls at Kate's, so I decided to let it go. That, and I didn't want to appear too tense.
While some of the costs are outrageous, even for the federal government, the website costs are actually pretty reasonable for development, security, and maintenance.
Other than that, have at it!
Two things catch my attention:
1) Contracts for websites: $81,900, $45,000, $71,000 (with a consultant billing of $750 per day for work completed), and $70,000.
2) Canada has a low-literacy problem, we hear stories everyday about shortages of skilled workers
As for (1), that probably isn't that bad seeing what the IT industry charges these days. Not good, but not so outrageous as it might seem.
As for (2), what do skilled workers have to do with literacy? Doesn't anybody remember what skills "skilled workers" possess?
I guess this means the schools will have to teach reading,writing; thats a novel idea.As far as the numbers of Illiterate's, that has to be inflated as per normal for the teat suckers.They like the figures to match what they deem it should be.
I certainly hope that no one is using the "International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey" as a basis for funding (or justifying) anything. This is what was referenced in the NUPGE "demand".
The main purpose of the survey was to find out how well adults used printed information to function in society.
The questionnaire, in pdf format, can be found here:
tinyurl.com/yejk5d
Based on those questions I can see why the plumber I gave $800 to last week might be to illiterate to function.
We have, in Canada, a poor but very expensive educational system at all levels. A good first step, which I *hope* the Conservatives have taken, is to throw less good money after bad. As for the literacy program, when I went to school it was called "k-4"; we could read, well, by the end of grade 4.
Because I have done some work with the "literacy industry", I was pretty sure this was the case . . . cuts in funding for conferences, etc.) Nice to see some of the details spelled out. Unfortunately, many of the Canadian public are still very misinformed about what these particular cuts represent.
The Canadian Public School system is #4 on the big-four list of Moral-Hazard-Enhancers. Besides the obvious ones; Libs, some Judges, some NGOs.
#1 The Media
#2 Universities
#3 Hollywood
#4 Public School system (Not all teachers, the system)
Why the PSS ? Because they are too busy teaching "social skills", while ignoring the life skills.
BRAVO..According to Stats Canada 46% of the population are functionally illiterate. Granted the majority of those functionally illiterate people are probably immigrants, which indicates the governments(both Federal and Provincial)should be spending money on teaching them to become functionally literate and integrating them into our society instead of pouring money down the black hole of meetings/consultations/research/conferences, and in the meantime nothing has improved one iota. Recent event in Calgary where an employee on a night shift was raped, the police were called, but language was a problem in determining location, etc.
Kate,
I am glad to see you are on the same mailing list as I am.
Today in Regina, the Conexus Arts Centre hosted the city's 17th annual literacy tutor conference, where volunteer tutors with the Regina Public Library's literacy program received valuable instruction and information necessary to carry out their work.
In addition, attendees heard an excellent address by Carey Rigby-Wilcox, an award-winning literacy volunteer.
Facts presented by the deputy director of the library board showed just how effective and efficient the public library's literacy program really is: with just a few paid employees, the proram unit is able to generate some 40,000 hours of volunteer work per year, the equivalent of 21 full-time paid positions.
Much remains to be done, since the current waiting list contains more than 200 people waiting for a literacy tutor: those interested in helping tackle this serious problem should consider volunteering a couple of hours a week to help someone exercise their basic human right to literacy.
another thing I could not believe is WHY do we as tax payers have to pay ESL(english as a second language) to new Immigrants....they want to learn English take it before you are allowed into canada...the prerequesite should be that you HAVE to know either ONE of the official languages and that is french and or english or else too bad try againj when you do know the language...i get tired of all this $$$$ that is waisted for all these consultants to advise us on what to do with all these peole that cant talk english or write it...pay for it yourselves.enough is enough good on you Stephen for making some moves to spend our money wisely
another thing I could not believe is WHY do we as tax payers have to pay ESL(english as a second language) to new Immigrants....they want to learn English take it before you are allowed into canada...the prerequesite should be that you HAVE to know either ONE of the official languages and that is french and or english or else too bad try againj when you do know the language...i get tired of all this $$$$ that is waisted for all these consultants to advise us on what to do with all these peole that cant talk english or write it...pay for it yourselves.enough is enough good on you Stephen for making some moves to spend our money wisely
LJ - It is not the case that 46% of the population are 'functionally illiterate'. That would put Canada into a status lower than any Third World country. Furthermore, your example of someone calling for help and not being able to provide the address, in English, has nothing to do with literacy. Could you, for example, if caught in an emergency in China, call their help line and provide the answer in Chinese? Would that mean you were illiterate or merely that you couldn't speak their language?
By the way, the 'test' given by ALL, wasn't just literacy, ie, the ability to read a text. There were two sections added to the two textual samples. One was without text and was mathematical; the other was analytic reasoning! Neither has a thing to do with literacy. So, the test results of this so-called 'literacy test' are flawed.
Canada has a 99% literacy rate; that's as high as one can get.
ET
'Illiterate' - unable to read or write in ANY language
'Functionally Illiterate' - unable to read or write in the native (official) language well enough to function in the country you are living.
Of course I would be functionally illiterate in China, as would you if you are unable to read or write Chinese which does mean you or I are illiterate, not to mention being able to speak or understand Chinese. Someone from another country that is unable to read or write English or French (our official languages in Canada) are 'functionally illiterate', in Canada. They may have more than one university degree and be completely 'literate' in their own language, but are 'functionally illiterate' for purposes of functioning in Canadian society. The key word is FUNCTIONAL. As for someone unable to speak well enough in english or french to be understood by the rest of Canadian society in general indicates to me that perhaps instead of spending thousands of dollars on conferences and consultants trying to determine the problem, we should be addressing the problem and helping those who are "illiterate", and those who are "functionally illiterate" or whose capacity to communicate in either of the official languages is improved to allow them to use their skills and become integrated into Canadian society.
"Of course I would be functionally illiterate in China, as would you if you are unable to read or write Chinese which does mean you or I are illiterate,"
Sorry, should be "doesn't mean you or I are illiterate,"