Times Colonist from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada • 14

All SATURDAY, APRil 9, 2011 tiineuetonitl com TiMtS COLONIST PuMMitr. i tiit tiit in rliii ni I iliiiiii.tUtii-n IMul VV ill mill) YK AH NO. 101 Tlir Colonhl: oumled linn Tlir Times: loumlnl HUM EDITORIALS Native education gets failing grade EJtCHHGt)lSSEHlWGCMlM)lfIV01CtSFR0MC0ASn0C0ASl tntssBo lU est c23 COMMENT 2 0 9 IT SPEAKS IB91 DooRsoPonpm IOICZIC) lacy lii.vn ViCWJaTiiWOwatfrtr- our 9t MW ri4crWvm Heed cleared, but battles still ahead It's easy to lapse Into despair over both the latest report showing that little progress is beinjj made in improving unoriginal academic performance in B.C., und the reflexively dismissive attitude of too many in the system. But it's much more useful to learn from the Fraser Institute's Report Card on Aboriginal Education and seize the obvious opportunities to improve outcomes. We have been hearing for years rightly that education is a critical component of any effort to improve the dismal lives that far too many aboriginal British Columbians face.

The report suggests strongly that little progress has been made in recent years and that in some cases the education gap has been growing. Grade 4 writing skills, for example, improved slightly for non-aboriginal students between 2005 and 2009. The performance of aboriginal students declined. The percentage of aboriginal students failing to meet expected literacy and numeracy skills, based on FSA tests in Grades 4 and 7, also increased during the same period. The skills gap actually widened.

The picture is similar for high school performance. Average provincial exam marks, to take one example, declined for both aboriginal and non-aboriginal students but the slump was greater for First Nations students. Some of the responses from education officials were disheartening, offering excuses rather than confronting the reality. There are, of course, many dimensions to effective education. But skills development in the early years is critical; so is consistent performance that leads to high school graduation.

The report, using the best available measures, suggests our current efforts are not adequate to the challenge. What's needed are not excuses, but the will to devote the energy and resources needed to deliver on the promise of educational opportunity. The report suggests some avenues to explore. In the Comox Valley, for example, two public high schools a few kilometres apart have significant numbers of aboriginal students. Highland Secondary School is ranked first in the province based on the performance of aboriginal students; George P.

Vanier is ranked 47th. Understanding the reasons for those differences and acting on them is an obvious first step. It's also important to take a broad look at the issues. The differences in educational performance may have little or nothing to do with what goes on in the classroom, or indeed anything the school district is doing. Family support, community programs aimed at young people, the presence of economic opportunities those can all be factors in educational success.

But it is not acceptable to ignore reality. Too many aboriginal British Columbians are living a second-class existence. Education is a critical building block in improving life for individuals and communities. And the best evidence indicates we are not making the kind of progress that will bring a brighter future. Heed's campaign, the cost was attributed to it.

That put him over the campaign spending limit. Elections B.C. has been seeking a supplementary financing statement from Heed for the past year. He's been given at least three deadlines to comply with the demand and has yet to produce the statement. What he has produced so far is an eight-page affidavit that explains why it is impossible for him to fulfil the demands of Elections B.C.

Why? Because he relied completely on the man now facing 10 charges to handle all the financial details of the campaign. "I trusted Mr. Sail's expertise I heavily relied upon Mr. Sail I left the bulk of this responsibility (donations and expenses) to Mr. Sail I completely trusted the expertise of my campaign staff to honestly and accurately perform their roles." His most recent move was last December, when he applied to the B.C.

Supreme Court to be excused of the responsibility. Heed's position was that he never prepared any financing reports. He doesn't know if the first one was inaccurate. He can't compel former staff to file anything. He couldn't verify anything if they did.

So he should be relieved of the responsibility to file a report. Since his $100,000 job is on the line, it's a high stakes standoff at this point. Heed has been in and out of cabinet twice and cleared of criminal wrongdoing twice. It's impossible to predict the next bizarre turn his career will take. But if the ignorance excuse worked once, it could work again.

couldn't have found out what was going on in his campaign. That's the same argument he's made to Elections B.C and plans to make in court when it comes to explaining why he can't file the financial statement. If it worked once, it may work again. Peter Wilson, the second special-prosecutor to review the case, said there is insufficient proof that Heed was involved in the sleazy anonymous anti-NDP pamphlets that prompted the investigations. There is no proof Heed knew about or was involved in filing a false financing report, or that he made improper payments to staff.

Wilson considered the charge of filing a false financing report. But the Election Act states an individual is not guilty if he didn't know the report was false. "There is no reliable, independent evidence proving that Mr; Heed knew of, or could with reasonable diligence have learned of, any unreported election expenses," the criminal justice branch said in a statement. Similarly, Wilson said there is no reliable, independent evidence proving Heed improperly paid campaign workers. While Heed was cleared again, some campaign workers fared worse the second time around.

Campaign manager Barinder Sail faces 10 charges of fakery, forgery and lying to police. Campaign supplier Dinesh Khanna faces four similar charges, as well. That's where it gets confusing, as far as Heed's future is concerned. Elections B.C. did a routine audit of Heed's campaign after the 2009 election.

When police determined the anonymous pamphlet came from LES LEYNE lleynetimescolonist.com The convoluted mess that is Kash Heed's political career took another swerve Friday. A second investigation into the former solicitor general's election campaign concluded no charges should be laid against him. He's now two for two when it comes to being exonerated by special prosecutors. That's obviously good news for Heed. If you overlook the fact he's attracted the attention of two special prosecutors in the first place.

But that's the only obvious thing to emerge from the review. The rest is a confusing mess, including a welter of criminal charges that will keep key members of his election team tied up in court for some time. And Heed isn't out of trouble yet. He's still in danger of losing his seat over his failure to file a supplementary financial statement to Elections B.C., after the first one came up short. He's going to court in the next few months to seek a judgment that would excuse him from that requirement, and his job as an MLA hangs in the balance.

Heed was exonerated Friday because he didn't know and likely Here's to a little chit-chat during surgery OTHER VIEWS Party subsidies valuable Conservative leader Stephen Harper deserves credit for announcing that if his party is elected with a majority, he will eliminate the public subsidies for political parties. In doing so, Harper raises a subject that is well worth voters' consideration. Eliminating the public subsidy is something Harper has been wanting to do for some time. He announced such an intention in 2008, although only after the election. He also did so as head of a minority government and the upshot was a revolt by the opposition parties.

Harper backtracked on the subsidy cut. Under the system, qualifying parties get roughly $2 a year from the public coffers for every vote they received in the preceding election. To qualify for the subsidy, a party must win at least two per cent of the vote. Introduced in 2004, the subsidy was intended to compensate the parties for the elimination of corporate and union donations, which in itself was a highly desirable development. Harper's justification for cutting the subsidy is that the money to support political parties should come from voters and not from the government.

It's probably no coincidence that the move would also heavily favour the Conservatives, which outstrip all other parties in soliciting individual contributions. Critics of the subsidy contend that government money shouldn't be spent to finance partisan speech and activities and particularly partisanship that many find odious. However, the subsidy also reduces the amount of time parties and politicians have to devote to grubbing for money. It enables smaller parties to participate in the political process. It is also a further encouragement for people to get out and vote, as every vote is a boost for the party's war chest The subsidy system also helps keep down class bias in the political system.

People who donate to political parties tend be the relatively well off. Without the public subsidy, parties would probably be more keenly aware of who pays their bills and inclined to favour the wealthy over the poor, who by and large don't make political contributions. The party subsidies cost the treasury just over $27 million in 2009. On balance, at least for the time being, it would seem that the subsidies make for a healthier democratic system and as such are wctth maintaining. The Gazette, MontresJ mitment to winning a Stanley Cup as a Canadian kid.

Staunch that blood flow, please. Beeeeeeeeeeeep. What's that? Ah, we seem to have a problem. Then again, Luongo is on form now, just at the right time." There are times for chit-chat, and times when it can be frustrating. With dentists, for instance, it's very much a one-sided conversation.

"How are you today?" "Grmmmph." "Good. Lovely day, isn't it. Busy lately?" "Grmmygghh ggrtto lllolliphh." "Yes, me too." I'm not sure dentists care what we say. It's all an approximation to them anyway. On reflection, a chatty dentist is an oxymoron.

They didn't get into the business to talk. That said, I wish they'd feel our pain once in a while. "This may hurt, but only a little." Ha. Taxi drivers, particularly in strange cities, are natural chatterboxes and feel it's required of them to pontificate on any subject imaginable and at length. Possibly this is because they know I'm a journalist and expect to be quoted in my next story, because that's what journalists do, as in, "The taxi driver on my way to Central Park said his city was a Phoenix rising from the ashes." The other thing about taxi drivers is that they were all once something else.

Economists. Engineers. Restaurant owners. Surgeons too, probably, until someone told them to shut up. Barbers sorry, hairdressers talk a lot too.

It's expected of them. They are a walking, talking, trimming editorial page, willing to pronounce on the topic of the day between the snips. Sometimes they tell you secrets, with a hushed voice, but prompted they'll tell you their Lie story, too. the thing is, we need our barbers and taxi drivers and dentists to chit- 4 chat more, not less, because we're in danger of losing the art of conversation. We don't talk to each other enough any more.

How often do you go into a bank and chat with the teller? My banking is done with a bank machine, who is a terrible conversationalist and, frankly, not particularly good with my personal finances, either. I can remember having long and enjoyable conversations with phone operators, too, before voice mail butted in and before a disembodied voice droned that this call might be monitored for quality control We text, we tweet, we tippy-tap e-mails on our hand-held devices at length, but we rarely chat to each other about the weather, the political state of play, the latest TV sitcom or the outrageous price of housinggasolinefoodferry fares. We dont talk enough to our kids any more either, in part because they have their heads stuck in a video game or they're texting friends. Sure, they're communicating, every waking moment it seems, but their interactive verbal skills are pure cave-dweller. "Yo.

Wassup. Not much." Grown-ups arent much better. Whenever anyone does chat and takes a verbal step beyond the perfunctory a store clerk, a restaurant server, a butcher (mine tells outrageously bad jokes), a police officer, a barber or, yes, a doctor then ft makes my day. We need to keep the conversation, the day-tonlay chitter chatter, going. Even in the operating theatre Other-wiie, machines vrA take over the world.

I can hear them beeping already. Ian llayson is news director of GLtvl XV irs in Bish CaVvNj. He viJt-s his week between Vkicrii and IAN HAYSOM lan.Haysomglobalnews.ca Be careful what you say. Particularly if you're a surgeon. The governing body for B.C.

doctors has warned its members not to engage in idle conversation while performing surgery after a patient complained his doctor was talking hockey with nurses instead of talking about his operation. The patient, who was under local anesthetic and could hear everything, felt the chit-chat could disrupt his surgeon's concentration. Actually, truth be told, if I were lying in an operating theatre, and I was somewhat compos mentis, I'd prefer to hear the surgeons indulge in idle chatter. It would show they were relaxed and calm and confident about the proceedings. Better than; "Oh my God." "What?" "The gall bladder.

Look." "Oh no." "Is it hat I think it is?" By this time, I'd be a nervous wreck, particularly if I'd gone in for a knee operation. Much better to hear them wondering whether the Canucks power play could handle Chicago in the playoff s. Ho hum, everything's going weiL The Sedins, nurse. They're Swedish you know. Scalpel please.

Some wonder whether the Sweden hockey players have the same com.