The day after Labour Day marks the unofficial start of fall, with memories of the summer beginning to fade. But for the city's politicians, they were reminded of the 39-day civic strike, as they began to debate whether to make ambulance, daycare, and garbage collection services essential.

Stats Canada released a report today that July’s building permits were down across the country by over 11% due to the civic strike. This was the first time it had dropped in three months, and if Toronto was out of the equation, the drop would have been just over 1%.

Rob Granatstein, the Sun’s Editorial Page Editor, was in the studio to discuss these topics affecting the GTA. Granatstein says he is surprised that they rejected paramedics as not being an essential service because of the fact that they are no longer simply ambulance drivers. He also suggested that Toronto look at other cities as a model and that garbage collection should not be considered an essential service.

When asked about the possible strike rebate to tax payers, he thinks that people shouldn’t get their hopes up and suggested that the money should just be put aside and put towards reducing property tax next year.

Ontario’s Deputy Premier George Smitherman said he is considering running for mayor, and this didn’t surprise Granatstein either. He said that he has lots of experience and has worked in the mayor’s office before. He thinks that Smitherman and former PC leader John Tory will be able to give Miller some tough competition.

Obama’s speech earlier today was meant to encourage students into getting serious and studying hard in school. Some Republicans dubbed the speech as propaganda by the president and accused him of playing politics with the children.

In Ontario playing politics with education has pitted teachers against politicians and parents against school boards. In a system that is struggling to reinvent itself, after years of funding cuts and new studies showing that many schools are not holding kids’ interests, there were plenty of happy faces among the 2 million students on their first day back to school.

Ontario Education Minister Kathleen Wynne and Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation President Ken Coran joined us to debate the major issues during the September back-to-school week.

The first big issue is the H1N1 virus. The virus is on the minds of all parents and educators across the province, and Premier Dalton Mcguinty was out showing students how to properly wash their hands after arriving at school.

Wynne emphasized hand washing as the most important part of the Minister of Health’s guideline on prevention of the virus. She says that if you’re a parent and your child is sick, the best way to prevent spreading the virus is to keep the child at home until the illness is completely healed. Wynne also said if there is case of H1N1 in a school, the child will have to be separated, and then a decision will have to be made by the Ontario Health Ministry on the proper course of action.

Coran agreed that hand washing is the key to prevention and commends the Education Minister on prevention initiatives. He says the answer is to take every precaution to prevent the spreading of any illness. Coran says it’s the responsibility of the teachers and support staff at every school to show kids proper prevention techniques.

The next topic of discussion was the new education Bill 177. The bill has passed its first reading in Ontario Government and has two more readings scheduled in the fall.

Wynne says that the main purpose of Bill 177 is to clarify the role of everyone in the education system. She says that public interest regulation is a part of the bill, but that section will have to come later when the first part is properly addressed. Wynne says that she is willing to work with all of the parties involved in Bill 177 to make sure it can be a positive initiative for everyone.

Coran says that the most important issue when it comes to Bill 177 is the consultation meetings and working together with the government to ensure all concerns can be met. He says that the OSSTF has prepared a document addressing its concerns with the bill and that will be discussed in the next few weeks. Mainly, Coran says that they want to make sure that no one loses sight of the main goal of teaching, which is to ensure that students are properly prepared for the next step in their education process.

The last topic addressed was the early childhood education report by Dr. Charles Pascal.

Wynne says that full day learning is in process for children aged 4 and 5, and scheduled to begin in some schools in 2010. She says that the idea is to give the best possible opportunity to kids so that they can have a better future in school.

Coran says we need qualified teachers and early educators working together to ensure the early childhood education plan works. He says they had a model system implemented in Windsor that was successful and says based off that, it could produce positive results.

Education Minister Kathleen Wynne

On Canoe Live tonight, Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne and Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers’ Federation President Ken Coran will discuss H1N1 in the schools, the new education Bill 177, and the Early Learning Years Report by Dr. Charles Pascal, among other topics.

Watch Canoe Live at 5:30pm.