The Dalton McGuinty-Liberal ad campaign about John Tory's promise to extend funding to private religious schools is nothing new.
McGuinty says extending funding will divide us along the lines of race and creed. The same criticism was levelled at the government when they extended full funding to Catholic schools up to grade 13.
He says they'll deprive the public system of funds, half a billion dollars to be precise. The same criticism was levelled at the government when they extended full funding to Catholic schools up to grade 13.
The question is did those predictions come true after Catholic schools became fully funded by the government and the controversy settled down? Nope.
It wasn't the Catholic schools that caused the public system to go belly up. It was the Toronto Board, the crappy teachers allowed to remain, the unions, and the Harris government that did.
And except for the current international political climate, Ontario is if anything more diverse and more cohesive than before the Catholic schools were fully funded. It seems to me that if the public purse were to fund the private religious schools, then those schools would be forced to teach those subjects and those ideas that unite us as part of the funding agreement, which apparently some do not now. In other words, public funding may in fact decrease the divisiveness those schools are currently creating. Oh and BTW, Ontario would not be the first to extend funding to religious schools; we'd just be joining the provincial crowd already doing so.
So are you going to be side-tracked rather neatly by the Liberals from voting Tory or are you going to see this issue as the skewed tempest in the teapot that it is and instead compare the parties on those issues that really make a difference to us, like TTC funding, health care, and Nanticoke?
McGuinty says extending funding will divide us along the lines of race and creed. The same criticism was levelled at the government when they extended full funding to Catholic schools up to grade 13.
He says they'll deprive the public system of funds, half a billion dollars to be precise. The same criticism was levelled at the government when they extended full funding to Catholic schools up to grade 13.
The question is did those predictions come true after Catholic schools became fully funded by the government and the controversy settled down? Nope.
It wasn't the Catholic schools that caused the public system to go belly up. It was the Toronto Board, the crappy teachers allowed to remain, the unions, and the Harris government that did.
And except for the current international political climate, Ontario is if anything more diverse and more cohesive than before the Catholic schools were fully funded. It seems to me that if the public purse were to fund the private religious schools, then those schools would be forced to teach those subjects and those ideas that unite us as part of the funding agreement, which apparently some do not now. In other words, public funding may in fact decrease the divisiveness those schools are currently creating. Oh and BTW, Ontario would not be the first to extend funding to religious schools; we'd just be joining the provincial crowd already doing so.
So are you going to be side-tracked rather neatly by the Liberals from voting Tory or are you going to see this issue as the skewed tempest in the teapot that it is and instead compare the parties on those issues that really make a difference to us, like TTC funding, health care, and Nanticoke?
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