Civil Rights Group Opposes Tory Faith-Based Schools
Posted September 24, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There’s a new wrinkle in the election campaign as it heads past the halfway mark and it centres on Progressive Conservative leader John Tory.
It comes in the form of some major opposition to his controversial proposal to fund all faith-based schools in the province. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has come out with a statement signed by some prominent attorneys and civic leaders pleading for the idea to be rejected by both political parties and the public.
The document, which is signed by such well known names as lawyers Eddie Greenspan and Clayton Ruby, director David Cronenberg, former Manitoba premier Howard Pawley and ex-Ryerson University president Walter Pitman, echoes Liberal concerns that such a move could harm the public system and cause divisions.
“Public funding of religious schools will drain resources from the public system and promote private schools at the expense of public schools,” it warns. “It will fragment and divide our system along religious lines. The sheer costs of funding many religious schools would likely reduce the quality of the entire educational system. In time, our community could become a much less tolerant place.” Read the full statement here (.pdf file)
“It reminds me of that old, old saying, ‘two wrongs don’t make a right,'” suggests the Association’s Noa Mendelsohn Aviv. “It may have made sense 100 years ago when the deal was struck that got it into the Constitution, but things have changed a lot. There are a lot of minority cultures that want to be preserved. As long as Catholic schools are funded — which doesn’t make any sense today — other religions will be clambering for the same thing.”
But Tory insists his plan is inclusive, not exclusive and that dismantling the long entrenched Catholic school system would remove existing rights – something his party refuses to do. Instead, he claims his plan is the only way to ensure fairness by adding to – not subtracting from – the existing system. And he reminds all those taking part would have to follow the Ontario curriculum.
The issue has become one of the centerpieces of the entire campaign and one of the most divisive. It would cost taxpayers at least $500 million.
Tory ponders beer and wine at corner stores
