TORONTO — Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory says the Liberals are being inconsistent in opposing his proposal to spend $400-million to bring faith-based schools under the public education umbrella.
He told a raucous all-candidates meeting Sunday that Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, his opponent in the Toronto riding of Don Valley West, once urged Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty to take a "principled stand" in favour of funding for religious schools.
Mr. McGuinty, also campaigning in Toronto Sunday, took the opportunity to a take a stand on a different issue, saying there should be a "time out" on foreign takeovers of Canadian companies until the long-term impact is better understood.
In Don Valley West, Mr. Tory quoted from a report in a 2001 Toronto weekly newspaper in which Ms. Wynne, then a public school trustee, said she had urged the Liberal Party to debate the issue in anticipation of a move at the time by a Progressive Conservative government to provide tax credits for parents with children in private schools.
Ontario PC leader John Tory talks with Ontario Liberal candidate Kathleen Wynne prior to an all candidates debate in the riding of Don Valley West in Toronto Sunday. (Adrian Wyld/CP)
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"I think it's very important to remind people of inconsistencies," he told reporters later.
"She has mused before, more than once, that this is an issue that needs to be addressed and now, all of a sudden, when it is being addressed by someone in good faith and honestly and openly, it is threatening the pillars of Canadian society as we know it."
However, CTV News reported last night that Mr. Tory was considering a partial retreat from his schools policy by promising to refer the issue to a legislative committee. Brendan Howe, a spokesman for Mr. Tory, would not comment on the speculation. Mr. Howe said that Mr. Tory will make a statement today to the Economic Club, but declined to elaborate.
Mr. Tory is under pressure from some of his own caucus members to back away from the contentious pledge. Last week, long-time Progressive Conservative MPP Bill Murdoch said that he does not support the policy.
The candidates meeting was attended by a standing-room-only crowd of more than 600 at a north Toronto high school. Ms. Wynne and Mr. Tory are believed to be locked in a tight race and the partisan audience hooted and hissed several times.
Ms. Wynne wasted little time in reminding her opponent that the polls are showing the faith-based schools issue has acted as a drag on the Conservative effort. Barely two minutes into the meeting, she tweaked Mr. Tory's campaign message about "real leadership" by saying that Ontario needs leadership "that knows when it is making a bad promise" and can back down from it.
The Conservative Leader said his proposal would bring into the public system many of the 53,000 students now educated in religious schools that operate beyond Ontario standards on curriculum and teacher accreditation.
Asked later about Mr. Tory's charge that she once supported the idea of supporting religious schools, Ms. Wynne said she had urged a public debate 15 years ago.
"The sand has shifted since then," she told reporters. "We're having a different debate now and what we're doing is we're trying to deal with a very divisive proposal."
At a campaign rally in the west Toronto riding of York South-Weston, Mr. McGuinty addressed the recent spate of foreign takeovers of some of Canada's largest companies, including Inco, Falconbridge, Stelco and Dofasco. In addition, the three breweries that own the Beer Store — Molson Coors Brewing Co., Labatt Breweries and Sleeman Breweries Ltd. — have been bought by foreigners.
Mr. McGuinty said the federal government should "take a time out and conduct some kind of a brief review of where we find ourselves at this point in our history and take a look down the road, 10, 15, 20 years out and better understand the long-term consequences of that to our Canadian economy."
Mr. McGuinty declined to say if he would recommend a moratorium on foreign buyouts pending the review.
During the rally in the west Toronto riding of York South-Weston, Mr. McGuinty focused largely on immigration issues. He said a Liberal government would put immigration officers in the province's seven foreign offices in London, Delhi, Los Angeles, New York, Munich, Shanghai and Tokyo. Three more are slated to be opened in Mexico City, Beijing and Paris.
"We are in a competition now, I'm not sure how many Ontarians really understand that," he told reporters. "We are in a competition to land the best and brightest in the world."
The Liberal's immigration plan, which also includes more English as a second language programs, would cost $50-million annually after four years.
Yesterday New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton vowed to shift the province toward a "greener" energy supply that would fulfill Ontario's power needs.
He outlined the NDP's plan at a campaign stop in Ottawa, which includes phasing out coal plants and banning any new nuclear facilities from opening.
With a report from Karen Howlett
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