Comment: Tory risked election by defending tax support for faith-based schools in Ontario

The following article is a commentary on the dominant issue in the October 10 Ontario election - Progressive Conservative leader John Tory's proposal to provide public funding to faith-based schools. The author, Harry Der Nederlanden, is editor of the Christian Courier, a weekly newspaper with roots in the Christian Reformed Church and based in St. Catharines, Ontario. After this article was written, on October 1, Tory backed off his commitment to provide the funding and said instead that the issue would be put to a free vote in the provincial legislature.

By Harry der Nederlanden

THE ISSUE of tax support for 'religious schools' has become a hot-button issue in Ontario's provincial elections. As soon as Progressive Conservative leader John Tory announced it as part of his party's election platform, the Liberals went on the attack like flies to an open wound. They detected a vulnerable spot and believe they can trip up the PCs on the issue.

But the sparring and rhetoric was not confined to the politicians, nearly every columnist and journalist in the province waded in to share his or her bit of wisdom. And the 'Letter' pages in various newspapers show that the issue has triggered very strong feelings, especially among opponents -- the defenders of a single secularist school system for all.

Some of the latter become almost hysterical at the idea of funding diverse 'religious schools' and predict the imminent collapse of the public school system, the spread of religious intolerance, the subversion of Canadian values and the balkanization of Canada's multicultural society. In the process, they so misrepresent these schools that they themselves become guilty of spreading religious intolerance. Many of the noisiest critics seem to be wholly unaware that tax support for 'religious schools' has been implemented elsewhere in the country without widespread social dislocation and an exodus from the public school system.

There are only about 100 faith-based private school in Ontario with an enrolment of about 53,000 students, constituting about 2 percent of the student population. The cost of full funding, according to Tory's estimates, would be about $400 million per year. While this sounds like a considerable sum, it's a small blip in the grand total. It amounts to about one-tenth of the increase in funding promised to the public schools over the next two years. Yet, the Liberals, public school teachers and ardent defenders wail that this modest sum will do irreparable harm to public schooling in Ontario. Greg Sorbara, head of the Liberal Party's election campaign, said Tory's proposal "is the greatest threat to public education I've ever seen." It would "hollow out" public schools, he said, and threaten the very foundation of public education.

The issue has come to predominate the election campaign. It is a very divisive issue and it looks as if the PCs didn't anticipate the fallout it would cause. Several commentators declared that the proposal is so unpopular that it will cost Tory the election. Especially after Tory stated that, yes, creationism would be allowed to be taught in faith-based schools, some spoke of Tory's "self-immolation". Colby Cosh of the National Post informed his readers that creationism was actually an American invention.

Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, quoted in the Globe and Mail, said: "I think this will prove to be a major thorn for the Conservative campaign this election. Without this, they would have been much, much better positioned."

Even some Tory supporters are shaking their heads, according to Margaret Wente of the Globe and Mail.

Others see the funding proposal as an election ploy to court the large ethnic vote in the greater Toronto area away from the Liberal Party -- or at least get them to the polls. That seems a tad cynical. Former Ontario Premier Bill Davis and Tory have been working on this proposal for several years.

Tory acknowledged that he knew the policy would be controversial, but he introduced it because, with full funding for Catholic schools in the province, it is a matter of fairness. "I put my head down on my pillow every single night," he said, "and go to sleep comfortably knowing that I've been straight forward and honest with the people. It doesn't mean it's absolutely right or perfect, but it's an honest suggestion, as contrasted with my chief competitor, who has suggested that somehow what I'm really promoting is segregation."

The National Post's David Asper, along with several other journalists, pointed out that McGuinty's warning that encouraging faith schools would undermine Canadian multiculturalism is hypocritical. He himself is a product of the Catholic school system (like many other Canadian leaders) and his wife teaches in a Catholic school. Asper not only condemns "the blatant dishonesty and overblown Liberal rhetoric," he goes on to say: "Real leadership means saying what you mean and believing it. Many will disagree with Mr. Tory's position on public funding for qualifying religious schools, as he was surely aware when he first declared his position. He knew it would be controversial, but is prepared to stand by his view and provide a cogent rationale for it. This is a good example of leadership."

An editorial in the Globe and Mail agreed that it would be fairer for Ontario to embrace the "religious schools" and put them on the same footing as the Catholic schools. But "the best course of action would be to simply eliminate public funding for Ontario catholic schools," it argued. It called such funding "an anachronism in today's multi-faith province," a holdover from the days when Catholics were a threatened minority. Apparently, today minorities don't need protection.

The Globe editorial goes on to celebrate the public schools as the place where children from various minorities learn to mingle and assimilate instead of "encouraging kids to interact only with members of their own faith." Apparently Robert Putnam's study showing that situations that force diverse groups into closer proximity doesn't increase tolerance and trust but the very opposite hasn't penetrated very far. It suggests that people need to have a home community in which to develop trust and from there it is actually easier to extend it to others.

Reflecting on the outcry against Tory's proposal, an editorial in the National Post observes: "Canada is a two-faced country. Most times we are moderate, tolerant, easy-going people." But when elections roll around "our elites suddenly become dogmatic secularists."

On the flap about teaching creationism in the religious schools, it comments:

"When it suits them our political and media elites laud these schools and their curricula as hallmarks of our multicultural society. (The same goes for aboriginal creation myths, which many Canadian students learn about in their history courses.) Has political correctness advanced to the point whereby every story of creation is politically acceptable except the one that happens to originate with the country's Christian majority?"

Apparently many supporters of faith-based schools were not certain what was included in the Tory proposal, and the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools arranged a number of meetings to explain. However, the finer points of the proposal are intended to be worked out at a later date by a commission to be headed by former Premier Bill Davis.

According to a story on the OACS website, John Vanasselt, director of communications, says the OACS is comfortable with the Conservative's proposal to fund faith_based schools.

"Our position is that since there are no more details, anything else is speculation and at this point we are very comfortable with the principles and we look forward to helping the PC's and the implementation commission work out the details when the time comes," says Vanasselt.

He adds that the OACS is in favour of public accountability for public money, and the three areas of compliance to receive funding as outlined by the Conservatives are not new to the schools.

The three areas are compliance with the Ontario curriculum, employing accredited teachers and participating in standardized testing. OACS schools already meet or exceed Ontario curriculum standards, students write provincial and national tests and all teachers have a bachelor's degree and teacher certification, says Vanasselt.

Members can read up on party positions on the OACS website.

Vanasselt says he encourages members to be informed on a number of issues before voting in the election. People who feel faith-based funding is important should express that in public, he says. This could be through a letter to the editor and other forms of engagement, such as getting involved with their local riding office and ensuring they cast a ballot on election day, notes Vanasselt.

"I think this issue is important to a lot of Christian school people, so I would encourage them to get active and vocal about it," he says. "If this proposal doesn't get a chance to be implemented then I don't see it coming back on the political agenda for a whole generation."

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October 4/2007