Election: Family Coalition slams 'selective' press coverage

NEWS RELEASE

BILL MURPHY FAMILY COALITION PARTY CANDIDATE SAULT STE. MARIE

************************** Family Coalition Party responds to Green Party over local media coverage of education policy

Andre Riopel, Green Party candidate for Sault Ste. Marie, released a statement to the media on Saturday.

Riopel questioned the underreporting by some of the local media of the Green Party and the Family Coalition Party (FCP) on educational policy.

Riopel asked fellow candidate Bill Murphy to speak on behalf of the Family Coalition Party.

"I agree with Andre Riopel that the Family Coalition Party and the Green Party should be part of the political dialogue in Sault Ste. Marie," said FCP Candidate Bill Murphy. "Unilateral decisions over which candidates deserve the light of day is, indeed, unfortunate. Selective media blackouts are not conducive to democracy and public discourse."

"The Family Coalition Party puts forward a unique policy on education," Murphy said. "While this policy differs from those of the other parties, we believe the public interest is best served by a vigorous discussion of ideas that the electorate, and even other parties, will consider."

"I encourage voters to look to the principles upon which the parties base their policies. Principled policies allow the FCP to steer a steady course in the midst of changing polls that often guide parties who are less committed to the arena of ideas," Murphy said.

"Concerning education, the Family Coalition Party believes in the principal that families are responsible for raising, nurturing and educating their children," Murphy said. "Parents are the primary educators of their children, and schools play an important role in assisting parents toward this common goal. We regret the growing perception that the government is the primary educator and knows what is best for our children."

"Schooling is not about social conformity," said Murphy. "Critical thinking, not political correctness, should be the order of the day. Neither should economies of scale play a defining role in how we educate. Choice in education is the vehicle of excellence."

Murphy and the Family Coalition Party support:

– parental choice in education, both public and private.

– public funding of each Ontario child of school age.

– teaching traditional family values and parental rights.

Sex education should be limited to the physiology of reproduction.

References that seek to normalize a variety of sexual choices outside of this framework are best left to parental discretion.

The FCP also supports the parental choice system which allows parents to choose the school, public or privately owned, for their children.

The details of this system are outlined at FamilyCoalitionParty.com

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