The Northern Ontario Party is calling for a referendum on a proposed one-school-board system.

Leader Trevor Holliday announced Wednesday the party is looking to introduce legislation that would allow Northern Ontario residents to choose whether they want a single consolidated school board or if they want to stick with the four-school-board model.

Standing outside E.W. Norman Public School, which is directly across from Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School, Holliday argued that the status quo is unfair to students.

"On one side of the street your children are worth one set dollar and then on the other side of the street they’re valued more per child," he said, suggesting there are disparities between funding for the various school boards.

The party is lobbying for legislation to provide for a referendum to be held in conjunction with the next provincial election.

Holliday accuses the Liberal government of shying away from the topic of education.

"We’re pulling the curtain off of it saying, ‘Look, this needs to be dealt with now before our future generations suffer,’" said Holliday.

Holliday urges citizens who feel strongly about this issue to contact their MPPs and Queen’s Park and make their voices heard. He added that the Northern Ontario Party is always open to discussing issues that Northerners believe are important.

"If anybody has any issues that they find aren’t being dealt with, we are the most approachable…you email me directly."

Premier Kathleen Wynne pushed for more co-operation amongst the boards when she visited North Bay last month.

"There’s no reason you can’t have a public and Catholic school board sharing space. It’s already happening in the province," Wynne said.

But, she dismissed the idea of changing the current configuration.

"That’s not what we’re going to do. It’s not what I believe should be done," said Wynne. "We can have that debate another day."

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