ONTARIO SCHOOLS NEED $15B IN REPAIRS

  NP:  The headlines were alarming. “Ford government cancels $100M school repair fund,” read the Toronto Star. The headline on the CBC’s website was virtually identical (with “Ontario government” replacing “Ford government”). The implication was clear: Ontario’s newly sworn-in premier is already cutting — and one of his first targets is kids.
   But those click-bait headlines actually miss the bigger, more troubling picture: that $100 million a year to, among other things, fit schools with solar panels is nothing compared to the $15-billion backlog in necessary upkeep at Ontario’s schools. That’s not a typo: the Ministry of Education says schools are awaiting $15 billion (with a “b”) in total repairs. The $100 million a year represents less than 0.7 per cent of that total.