SCH Raise Concerns Over Bill 18 “...we just don’t feel like we should be forced to have any activity that is against our faith based principals.”
Over 1,200 people attended a special meeting at the Steinbach Christian High School where the topic of discussion was the province’s newly proposed Bill 18.
By Marianne Curtis Over 1,200 people attended a special meeting at the Steinbach Christian High School where students, community leaders and the public discussed the province’s proposed anti-bullying legislation, otherwise known as Bill 18. On February 24, Steinbach Christian High School hosted the meeting to raise concern and inform the public on the details of the province’s proposed Bill 18, believing that it will cause more problems than solutions. Bill 18 is formally known as the Public Schools Amendment Act (Safe and Inclusive Schools). The bill amends The Public Schools Act in the areas of bullying and respect for human diversity. While the premise of the Bill is to promote inclusion, one portion is upsetting many people within the community of Steinbach.
“The policy must accommodate student activity that promotes the school environment as being inclusive of all pupils, including student activities and organizations that use the name “gay-straight alliance”, reads the Bill. Steinbach Christian High School’s Scott Wiebe said the province needs to revisit that stance to accommodate faithbased schools. “We support the intent of this legislation but think it’s poorly written,” explained Wiebe. “It’s not about one particular group or activity; we just don’t feel like we should be forced to have any activity that is against our faith based principals.” Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen is supportive of his constituents’ concerns.
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Town of Ste. Anne Tax Bylaw Goes to Municipal Board By Marianne Curtis A special service bylaw proposed by the Town of Ste. Anne went before the municipal board in the middle of February. The municipal board hearing was held to address the proposed special service bylaw that if approved could see properties normally exempt from paying services to pay their fair share. According to council, proposed By-law 17-2012 would see properties such as community schools, churches and the Ste. Anne hospital start paying for services provided by the town. These services include police and fire, road repairs, snow removal and drainage. “The exempt properties do not pay taxes under the general municipal at large mill rate,” explained Town of Ste. Anne administrator Nicole Champagne. “The costs exist regardless; more properties will therefore help pay for these services.” By establishing a special service bylaw, the Town of Ste. Anne will be able to share service costs with all properties, including the exempt ones and the only way to do this is by a Special Services By-Law. Town of Ste. Anne mayor, Bernie Vermette, says that the bylaw would take about 4.5 mils from general taxes and put them into a special levy to pay for special services. “This would allow us to reduce general taxes, which are where payment for special services currently comes from,” Vermette explained. “If we can increase the mil rate to 10 mils for everyone then we won’t be taking money we need for special services from the municipal budget and the budget would drop.” Currently exempt properties pay 6 mils towards a portion of these services while all the rest of the properties pay 6 mils plus the remaining balance for services through the general municipal at large rate. The municipal board hearing was called after a number of objections were submitted to the province in opposition of the bylaw. The majority of concerns were that the bylaw did not guarantee that the Town of Ste. Anne would reduce the general mil rate by the amount of the special levy. “Our concern is that this bylaw, as it reads, is really another tax increase for all business and residents and all public institutions,” stated Ben Fry, a Town of Ste. Anne resident who spoke at the hearing. “There are no guarantees written into it.” Now that a municipal board hearing has taken place, the board will consider all sides before making a decision. It is undetermined how long it will take before a decision is made.