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The proposal became one of the defining issues of the campaign, particularly after Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals stoked fears it would lead to a segregated educational system in which some children could be exposed to dangerous ideologies. The Conservatives lost the election in part on account of this issue, and politicians haven’t dared to touch it since.

Ontario has a divided system of education, which the UN has classified as discriminatory

As a result, we’re left with a divided system of education: a Catholic board that’s publicly-funded as a result of the special protections its afforded under the constitution, and no funding for other independent faith-based schools. A 1999 UN Human Rights Committee report classified this system as discriminatory. Unsurprisingly, it also impairs the quality of education that children in independent schools receive.

According to a 2016 Fraser Institute study, there are more than 115,770 students enrolled in independent schools in Ontario, of which about half are denominational. A recent study by the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education identified 179 independent, religious schools in the GTA alone. Students in these schools come from all denominations: 45 per cent attend Christian, non-Catholic schools; 32 per cent independent Catholic schools; 11 per cent Jewish schools; 9 per cent Islamic schools; and 3 per cent schools affiliated with other religions.

Currently, the parents of these children must pay the full cost of their child’s tuition (which is in addition to the taxes they already pay to help fund government-run schools). By comparison, in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec, the provinces help independent schools and families by covering some of their operating costs, irrespective of the school’s pedagogy or religious affiliation.