As all three major political parties in Ontario begin staking out their ground for the campaign, financing for religious schools is one of the few issues that shows a sharp difference between Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Tory.
Mr. Tory accused the Premier yesterday of "fear mongering" and pointed out that Ontario is the only province that pays the entire cost for students who attend Roman Catholic schools and none of the costs for students who attend Islamic, Jewish or other faith-based schools. Six other provinces fund faith-based schools, he said on CBC Radio's Here and Now. "They have not seen public education disappear as we know it," Mr. Tory said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...ional/Ontario/
And another piece regarding this issue, from the Ottawa Citizen.
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/...8-deca5701c119
Oh, and Dalton McGuinty Jr. -- the premier, that is -- says he won't even discuss the removal of public funding from Catholic schools. That's the system we inherited, he says when pressed. It's in the Constitution. Of course he conveniently omits the fact that this can be changed with a quick, bilateral constitutional amendment, as Quebec and Newfoundland did in recent years.
How do you feel about public tax dollars funding a Catholic School system that the tax payer may not necessarily support?
Is it unfair that one particular religion receives this funding, while other religions are snubbed?