I know these people are doing what they think is right, but all three of them who approached me were smoking (right in my face) I am a non-smoker and that turned me off right there. I am not going to look at their literature or sign a petition under these circumstances!

Sounds like not only the protesters are the ones blowing smoke.Brian Caldwell,let us know where we can contact you and when the next rally will be held.There are a lot of people in the area who need our and your support.You won,t get much from the media.

The next Rally will be at the CAS office in Townsend, Ontario. Wednesday October 28th 2009 10am - 7pm. Go any time of the day or go all day!

STAND UP SPEAK OUT!

I believe that there is nothing wrong with having an Ombudsman being involved in the CAS and support the passing of Bill 93. No government public department dealing with children can have too much supervision or oversight.

The CAS makes subjective judgment calls and decisions based on their responsibility to mitigate and minimize risks to the child. As the final line of protection for the child if/when (if they do) err, then it is mostly on the side of the protection of the child – that is their mandate.

Many people criticize their “zealousness” and “hardheadedness” but when they screw up and a child is mistakenly returned to a family or transferred to another family only to be abused or killed then they are blamed for their “incompetence”.

In our society we have parents having very different approaches to child rearing and to the limits of their responsibility to their child. I believe that we do need an objective organization like a CAS to make sure that the child rearing methodology of unprepared, uninterested or incompetent parents do not harm or injure the innocent child.

On this particular protest it is difficult to decide as to whether the protestors have indeed been wronged since they are not stating their individual grievances and there are no published particulars of their individual cases available. That information is rightly kept private if only to protect the children.

With the Ombudsman becoming the new final line of protection for the child then the CAS may change its standards.

Perhaps that in itself may create new and bigger problems.

Perhaps not.

Big Guy,

Again I say, the CAS is not a Government Department of any sort. They are PRIVATE. Sure they get their funding from the government.. from the taxpayers.. but that's pretty much where it ends.

As for the Rally that took place, who's to say they have been personally wronged by the CAS I don't think that's stated in the article. There are many people involved with the movement that have no direct involvement. MPP Randy Hillier being one as is a minister out of Hamilton, Mr. Steve Rudd. just to name a couple off the top of my head.

I appreciate your open mindedness of this subject nevertheless.. if only more people would realize that something needs to be done because the current system is obviously not working.

I'm on fire this morning!

Keep in mind that while the CAS is private, this is what so many peope want. Government to contract out public services. The root cause should lead people to re-examine what they are asking for. The parallels can be drawn to private medical clinics diagnosing people, or private schools teaching kids. Not the same, but similar ideologies.

Ombudsman, or ministerial oversight for CAS - YES.