Attempting to pass a liberal opponent by veering over to the far-left side of the political spectrum is what we conservative strategists technically call "electoral suicide". But obviously that doesn't stop some people--like Ontario Conservative leader, John Tory, currently running for the Canadian province's top job in this week's elections. Sounds like someone took a few too many swigs of the multiculti Kool Aid--even managing to drink the Liberal incumbent under the table, which is quite the feat.
I'm not sure what Tory was thinking when he came up with the idea of funding faith-based schools with tax dollars. Conservatives are about inclusion, not segregation. That's what liberals do--divide society up into as many slices as they can, each with its own lobbying groups to provide employment for otherwise useless leftists.
Apparently Tory wanted to put other religions on par with the publicly-funded Catholic school system. That would presume that all religions are equal. If Tory really believes that, then he needs to come down to NYC and visit me so I can show him a giant hole in the ground that Catholics didn't make--or the Homeland Security "wanted" poster at JFK airport which features exactly zero Catholics.
Oh, but other Canadian provinces have funded religious schools equally. That's nice. But those also aren't the provinces where the "dynamite religion" is being imported en masse, as it is in Toronto, where 30% of recent Mideast immigrants have settled.
Tory has said that the religious schools would have to follow the provincial curriculum. But it's the side orders being served up with the main course that are the issue. Things are already bad enough in that department.
Take Toronto's Triangle program for gay kids, described on its website as "Canada's only classroom for LGBTTI2QQAP youth." Whatever that is. According to the site: "In the afternoons, you will be studying...in group classes of three week units adapted to address the interests, concerns, literature, and history of the lesbigay and transgender communities."
While I'm sure a student's fluency in gay lit would come in handy on a fieldtrip to Greenwich Village, I'd rather be paying for the kids to be capable of adding up my McDonald's tab, or writing me hatemail in a language other than "text message" or "flagrantly illiterate".
In the USA, mixing religion and education in publicly funded schools is unconstitutional. Still, a recent situation in NYC illustrates what can happen when the line separating certain religions and education becomes too fine, as would be the case under Tory's plan:
Just as the publicly-funded Khalil Gibran Arabic school was slated to open this year in Brooklyn, its principal was tied to--and defended -- a group selling "Intifada NYC" shirts. Further, in an Amnesty International interview, she stated that she's against the war on terror. Who really knows what else these kids are getting along with their Arabic language education.
I realize that Westerners need people who are fluent in these languages in order to gather intelligence in the war on terror, but if people who live in caves can pick up the lingo, can't we just teach it to a few university-educated intel agents, as required? It really can't be that difficult.
As for the argument that bringing the dynamite religion under government supervision through Tory's plan, it's not like we have to ask permission to stick cameras in any place where there's suspected extremist activity. Four-hundred million dollars is a lot of money to spend on unnecessary politeness.
RachelMarsden.com is a political analyst, columnist and TV commentator. Rachel is a New York based political columnist, political and media strategist, and radio/TV personality. She is considered an expert in both US and international politics.
Rachel can be reached at: rachelmarsden@yahoo.com
