It’s a quirk of the Canadian constitution that in most provinces Roman Catholic school boards are public boards. Historically, it made sense; Roman Catholic schools provided French language schools, something that Canada’s bilingual nature demanded. A century or so later, you would think this quirk of history would have been remedied. In 2007, the Ontario electorate rejected the Tories’ proposal to extend funding to all religious schools, yet still Roman Catholic schools retained their privileged position.
Well, maybe that’s about to change. A new Forum Research Poll claims that 54% of Ontarians no longer support publicly funding Roman Catholic schools:
The number of Ontarians opposed to public funding of Catholic schools has grown to 54%, according to a new Forum Research poll.
A survey of 1,053 people found support for the separate school system at 39%, the lowest in a year’s worth of polling.
Another 7% of respondents indicated they had no opinion on the issue.
Personally, I support the public funding of Roman Catholic schools… of course, I support the public funding of all religious schools (assuming they meet the appropriate standards and regulations), as well as the public funding of all schools whatsoever (again, assuming they qualify). But, hey, I guess one step away from discrimination would be nice.
