Even the UN thinks our system is unfair
Before the last Ontario election, Dalton McGuinty promised his close friend Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka that if he became premier, he would give other faith-based schools the same full funding currently enjoyed by Roman Catholic Separate Schools.

Worms turn. Now, instead of doing what he called a matter of fairness then, McGuinty accuses those who favor equal status for all faith-based schools of promoting a system which would leave children "sequestered and segregated." Last week, in an open letter to McGuinty, Bulka - more in sadness than in anger - revealed that McGuinty had promised to support their quest for funding, but instead has "taken the road of divisiveness rather than the road of inclusion."

In reply, McGuinty attacked the Conservative plan to finance faith-based schools and rehashed old battles between former premier Mike Harris and the teacher's unions, as if that has anything to do with the current issue. McGuinty, his wife and his family are all products of Catholic schools, yet he argues that funding one religion - his own - is fair an equitable, but funding other religious schools is tantamount to segregation. Imagine.

"I believe that Ontario cannot afford to go backward now," McGuinty wrote. "Instead, our party will be asking Ontarians to keep moving our province forward."

In his letter, McGuinty completely ignored Bulka's revelation that he had promised to support full funding for other faiths besides his own. To deny it would be to call the rabbi a liar, a highly doubtful proposition. But to admit it would be to admit to yet another in a series of broken promises which have marked McGuinty's rule almost from day one. So he chose to ignore it and denigrate those who, like Bulka, believe it is unfair to finance one religion's schools and not the others.

Even the United Nations, for heaven's sake, called Ontario's current policy unfair. The UN argues the province should either fund all religious schools or fund none of them.

No doubt many Ontarians would love to cancel all funding of faith-based schools. But given the history of this country, where funding of Catholic Schools in Ontario was one of the deal breakers which allowed Confederation to succeed in 1867 - not to mention the near impossibility of constitutional change under the current rules - that is not likely to happen.

Which means, of course, that to be fair to all tax payers, all the legitimate religious schools should be treated equally. Anything less is pure, old-fashioned prejudice, period. And given the relatively small number of students involved, don't believe the propaganda from McGuinty's and teacher's unions about undermining the public system. It hasn't happened in other provinces which fund religious schools. It wouldn't happen here either.

McGuinty isn't the only one whose hypocrisy is showing, however. The Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement saying it respects the role of politics in society, but "it is not usually the role of the bishops to intervene in a political campaign, especially where, as in the current context, any comments they make might be used for partisan purposes. Therefore, the OCCB declines to respond to questions at this time."

How convenient. The Catholics have their deal. Too bad about the rest. Sound a bit harsh? Well, Bill Steinburg, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Toronto, told the National Post, "With an election coming up, we have to be careful about the Church's comments and involvement. As a not for profit, we can't jeopardize our status that way."

Churches have always been involved in politics, including the Catholics. One of the final acts of long-serving premier Bill Davis before he retired in 1985 was to extend full funding for all Catholic schools in Ontario. It was done without any public discussion. He didn't even tell his education minister until moments before he made the announcement in the legislature in 1984.

During Davis's first election in 1971, full-funding for Catholic schools was the number one issue. Davis opposed it. Liberal leader Bob Nixon was in favor. Davis won a huge majority.

So what happened to change his mind? Davis succumbed to private lobbying by his long-time friend, the late Emmett Cardinal Carter, privately promising to extend funding before he retired. With his career winding down, Carter threatened Davis to either live up to his promise or he'd tell every Catholic Church in the province to reveal the premier's duplicity and parishioners would be encouraged to vote against the Tories.

So Davis buckled under to Carter's political power play.

Now, if the Catholic bishops can live with their attitude of "I'm-okay-so-why-worry-about-fairness," that's up to them.

But that doesn't mean other faiths should have to pick up the tab just for them.