Blue Like You

Archive for August 29th, 2007

John Tory certainly has Dalton McGuinty by the um, scruff of the neck!

How would you feel if your good friend and neighbour wrote an op-ed in the National Post begging you to reverse your stance on a key electoral issue on the principle of ‘fairness and inclusivity’?

And that now that friend feels extremely offended?

Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka writes:

The Premier has said: “If you want the kind of Ontario where we invite children of different faiths to leave the publicly funded system and become sequestered and segregated in their own private schools, then they should vote for [Conservative Opposition leader John] Tory. If they think it’s important that we continue to bring our kids together, so that they grow together and learn from one another, then you should vote for me.”

I was stunned to hear this coming from the Premier. Most troubling is the suggestion that funding my faith’s schools could lead to problems with social cohesion. The Premier that I know cannot argue that children who attend publicly funded Catholic schools contribute to social unrest. So why does he argue that other faith communities, who have thus far been denied the opportunity to participate in the public system, would be any less able to contribute to the peace and security, happiness and prosperity, justice and freedom that abide in Ontario, especially when their tax dollars help pay for the current system?

Then you’re slammed with a statement from Bernie Farber, chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress:

Mr. Farber said yesterday he was floored to hear Mr. McGuinty attack faith-based schools as segregationist and harmful to Ontario’s “social cohesion” last week.

Those comments represent a complete departure from Mr. McGuinty’s earlier statements on the issue, Mr. Farber said.

It gets worse:

Not so long ago, Mr. McGuinty believed in much the same thing. In 1998 Mr. McGuinty met with Mr. Farber and 50 other executive members of the CJC and told them he was open to faith-based school funding. It was the first positive sign from a provincial leader on the issue since the group began campaigning for it in 1984.

“At the time that was a hugely significant statement,” Mr. Farber said. “He stood up in front of the leadership of Ontario’s Jewish community and said he was prepared to do it.”

He went further in a 2001 published interview with the Ottawa Citizen.

“There’s an issue of unfairness there that will have to be addressed,” Mr. McGuinty said at the time. The future premier went on to say that “somewhere down the road” he planned on issuing some sort of tax credit for faith-based schools, albeit “with all kinds of strings attached.”

So, it appears we have another broken promise to add to the already lengthy list.

Losing the support of the Jewish community in Ontario is gonna hurt.

What will Dalton do???