OCCB onboard

This has got to be a huge boost for John Tory on the kickoff day of the election - Fund all faith-based schools, bishops urge (Ottawa Citizen):

"The primacy of parental rights in education is a value which should be realized not only by Catholic parents, but also by others."

"We have publicly committed ourselves to support the concept of the development of alternative schools for people of other faith communities."

The statement was hailed as a "clear Catholic endorsement of government support for faith-based schools" by the Public Education Fairness Network, a coalition of faith-based community schools.

"I think this was a situation where the bishops felt compelled to comment on an issue of fairness," said Bernie Farber, chief executive officer of of the Canadian Jewish Congress and a member of the coalition, which also has members from the Armenian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities...

And it's not just an issue of fairness - It's the Christian thing to do.

Good for the OCCB. My faith in Catholicism may yet be restored.

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Update: This could be the reason why some of my Liberal readers are a bit grumpy this morning.

Tuesday Update: Faith-Based Revelation - I was a Second-Class Citizen (Globe):

...Tell me, Mr. McGuinty, how do you create a "knowledge economy" that breeds "creativity" and "excellence" (your words) when you are unwilling to elevate the educational standards of 53,000 Ontario students who are receiving this same second-class education?

And yet, there was Deputy Premier George Smitherman suggesting that, because it would cost an extra $100- million, funding for these students is not warranted. This, from the same minister whose response to the ailments of our health system was to increase its budget by $11-billion since 2003. During Mr. McGuinty's time in office, public education funding rose from $9.4 billion in 2003 to $12.8 billion in 2007. So don't tell me the money doesn't exist...

...When Mr. McGuinty says funding religious private schools is tantamount to "segregation," I first try to ignore the irony that this word invokes. And then I turn to my Muslim friends who graduated from my Islamic school and who are now in law, medicine, teaching, business and, yes, even our armed forces. I turn to my four brothers: two doctors, one lawyer and a future investment banker.

And then I wonder: Since when did it become too expensive or too dangerous to uphold equality? What happened to the idea of accommodating or celebrating diversity?

Thank you for that, Mr. Omar Soliman. Very well said indeed.