Queen’s Park – According to MPP Jim McDonell:  Over 1,500 residents of Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry came together to sign an online petition to save our local rural schools from closure.

In an underhanded move, last year the Government removed community benefit and local economic benefit factors from the Pupil Accommodation Review Guidelines, the document in which School Boards must comply with to make decisions on building and closing schools.

Any resident of rural Ontario will tell you how the local school is a keystone of the community, providing local opportunities for families to raise children and give them an outstanding education.

This drives economic activity and community development across Ontario. The Ministry of Education must come to its senses and return these two key values to the PARG.