Moron John Tory. I Mean More On John Tory.

The majority of human beings in Western civilization understand and appreciate the separation of church and state. With separation of church and state freedom of religion is at risk, in fact, everyones freedom is at risk.

Any politician who tries to narrow the gap of the separation is doomed in todays world.
It doesn't matter if the candidate is a nice guy, sincere, and preaching fairness. I for one do not believe there is such a beast as a sincere politician.

John Tory, by adding religious school funding to his platform, does not deserve to get even one vote. He especially has no business as a leader. A leader doesn't make such imbecilic decisions. Whoever else was responsible for making this part of a platform should resign and become a Walmart greeter.

Did they not bother reading polls or try to understand the thoughts of the majority of Ontarians?

Lets look back. In a poll back in June, 58% of Canadians supported a merger of Catholic schools into the public school system, with only 29% opposing the idea. 13% did not know.

And there was no one reason to overcome for or against, just the overwhelming majority do not want faith based schools when public schools are available:

Question 2: Why do you feel this way?
Should not be separate/different boards 17.7%
Cost savings 16.7%
Don't know 11.5%
Religion is important 10.4%
One system would create equality 9.4%
Separate schools have better education 8.3%
Discriminates against other religions 6.3%
One would improve education 6.3%
No need for change, system is working well 4.2%
Religion should not play a part in education 3.1%
Public system is better 3.1%
Need alternatives 2.1%
It's the same curriculum anyway 1.0%
***********************************

If given the answers and told to pick one, I would have chose "Religion should not play a part in education" but I obviously agree with a few of the answers.

That poll isn't even about funding Muslim, Jewish, Quaker, etc. schools. So why would Tory the knucklehead even alienate more voters on top of the ones in the above poll?

In a new poll: Ontarians were read the statement, “A group of religious leaders from Ontario representing the Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Armenian communities is calling for the funding of all faith-based schools that meet provincial standards with taxpayer’s money. Currently, the Ontario Catholic school system is funded by taxpayers, but not other faith-based schools,” and asked whether they support or oppose extending full funding to faith-based schools.

On this basis, 62% of Ontarians oppose full funding for faith-based schools, including 45% who strongly oppose the plan. Just over one in three (35%) supports the plan, including 14% who strongly support it.

Every major party has close to identical stats when it comes to those who oppose and more importantly strongly oppose Tory's plan:

Among party supporters, opposition to faith based funding is as high among PC supporters (60% opposed, including 43% strongly) as among Liberal voters (60% opposed, including 46% strongly). NDP voters (68% opposed, including 49% strongly) and Green voters (67% opposed, including 55% strongly) are even more fixed in their opposition to faith-based school funding.

The majority of Ontarians still want to do away with Catholic school funding as well, though the numbers are slightly different from the June survey:

Ontarians were given three options: merge the Catholic and public school systems into a single publicly funded system; keep everything as it is, continuing funding for Catholic schools but not other faith-based schools; or, extend funding to faith-based schools. On this basis, a majority of Ontarians (53%) say the Catholic and public systems should be merged into a single school system. One in four (23%) say the status quo – of funding Catholic, but not other faith-based schools—should prevail, while one in five (21%) believe that funding should be extended to all faith-based schools in the province.

A Muslim writer tried to make a case for Tory's plan in the Globe and Mail by saying he had a second rate education in a Muslim school that his parents paid top dollar for. The comments to the article completely tell the story of the collective Ontario mindset.

Meanwhile, Tory knows he screwed up real bad, and he now has no chance of winning:

John Tory says the buck stops at the top, and he will take full responsibility if his party goes down to defeat Oct. 10 over his policy on funding for religious schools.

"I have had lots of leadership positions and you know that that's where the buck stops and you have to accept accountability," Tory said at a campaign stop at London's Covent Garden Market, when asked if he'd personally be accountable for the policy......"I am the leader, so I am accountable for all the things that happen, good and bad and I accept that as part of the leadership responsibility, and I always have," Tory said.
********************************
Tory should never have become Conservative leader. It is the year 2007. When a party elects a leader they expect the leader to have a chance of winning, if not what is the point? To lose? Especially when you had a good chance of winning, if you kept your "bright" idea to try to swing ethnic voters at the expense of losing your secular vote (that you obviously didn't think about at all).

One thing that is being talked about privately (McGuinty won't mention it or else he could lose the Islam vote) is the idea of publicly funding Muslim schools, especially when taking into consideration the low income Muslim population that can't afford private Muslim schools. Yes, rightly or wrongly (probably rightly), there is tremendous concern that bad ass teenage Muslim kids would serve Canada better if they were in public schools hopefully becoming more tolerant and less likely to be recruited by friends of Omar, for example.

Another biggie is the fact that the retired or near retired people, who now have adult children, equate the spending of public funds on separate schools as misappropriated spending and totally unnecessary. And these people do turn up come voting day.

THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY MEMBERS SHOULD BE COMPLETELY PISSED OFF AT TORY RIGHT NOW WHETHER THEY ARE FOR OR AGAINST FUNDING RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS. HE IS WASTING CAMPAIGN DOLLARS EVERY DAY FROM HERE ON IN IF THE INTENTION OF THOSE CAMPAIGN DOLLARS WERE TO WIN THE ELECTION.

*************************************

Again, this isn't about whether creationism vs. evolution is taught, it is the whole idea of public tax dollars going to where creationism is taught (not just as a comparative studies course) and what will be the future affect of this as far as a multitude of different faithed schools springing up and the probable implications that more segregation will be the outcome. Regarding creation vs. evolution, here is what John Tory really said:


This is the impression I have of John Tory if he were to teach evolution in an Ontario classroom: