The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is calling on the Ontario government to stop funding Catholic schools, joining the debate over faith-based schools that has resurfaced during the provincial election campaign.
Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory has caused a stir with his proposal to extend funding to all faith-based schools that meet curriculum criteria. Currently, the province fully funds Catholic schools and gives no money to the others.
Ontario Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty and PC Leader John Tory went head-to-head on the issue of funding for religious schools during Thursday's debate. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has called for an end to funding all religious schools.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)
Alan Borovoy, lead counsel for the CCLA, said Tory's proposal takes the province in the wrong direction.
"What we are trying to do is alert, raise public consciousness, to this unfairness and argue that the other side of it, not that the other schools should get more funding but that Catholic schools should not be getting the funding they are. In other words, the road to equality is to have one public school system."
Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty has admitted he has struggled with the issue but said he can't support Tory's plan to fund faith-based education because of the damage it would do to public schools. He said Tory hasn't figured out how to train the teachers, build the schools or decide which religions would get the funding.
"If you are going to lob this grenade, you better have worked this out in minute detail," said McGuinty earlier in the campaign for the Oct. 10 election. "And I haven't seen any evidence of that whatsoever."
But Tory hasn't backed away from the idea.
"It may not be universally popular but I tell you I believe in my heart it is the right thing to do for the province of Ontario and a stronger public education system," he said in Oakville earlier this month.
Borovoy, speaking on CBC's Metro Morning, said the idea of funding all religious schools is wrong.
"As long as the Catholic schools are getting this funding … other religious groups are going to ask for the same treatment. And if you give it to all of them, as some have proposed, you're running a terrific risk of in time losing the public school system as we now know it."
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More Ontario Votes Headlines »
- McGuinty wins massive majority, Tory loses seat
- Dalton McGuinty won a second majority government for the Liberals in Ontario on Wednesday night, a triumph for a party that earlier expressed fears of a drop to minority status.
- Ontario rejects electoral reform in referendum
- Ontario voters have rejected a proposed electoral reform that would have seen some provincial legislators chosen based on a party's share of the popular vote, results showed Thursday.
- Ontario voter turnout a record low
- The percentage of eligible voters casting ballots in Wednesday's Ontario election hit an all-time low despite changes introduced in an effort to boost turnout.
- Ont. Green party scores 8 per cent of vote
- No Green party candidates made it to the Ontario legislature in Wednesday's election, but that defeat was sweetened by a swell in their share of the popular vote, which more than doubled.
- McGuinty only leader not facing leadership questions
- Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty won re-election in Ottawa South and NDP Leader Howard Hampton again won his northern Ontario riding of Kenora-Rainy River. PC Leader John Tory was defeated.
