ELECTION ANALYSIS – PART I: THE SURFACE ISSUES |
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Context |
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Officially* this is what happened on October 10th in the riding seats: |
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Liberal |
- 71 |
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Progressive Conservative |
- 26 |
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NDP |
- 10 |
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Green Party |
- 0 |
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* according to Elections Ontario |
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What does this new reality mean for Private Christian Schools? The answer comes in two parts; one, the surface or normal issues; two, the under currents or worldview issues. |
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Scenario #1 - Ideology |
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1. |
The majority (55%) of the public does not want religion and education mixed at all. No minorities welcome. |
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The minority (35%) of the public is willing to consider several minority varieties of schooling provided they are tightly regulated and thus not fundamentalist opportunities for subversion. |
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There is minimal (10%) support for a truly pluralistic education system, one which contains minimal regulations on the five core factors and allows scope for different philosophies. |
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Scenario #2 - Politics |
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The Liberals successfully played the theme of fear of change – “no subverting of traditional habits with my money” – with a Catholic Premier, who did the Bill Clinton thing: what is religion to me? |
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5. |
Regretfully the Tories made a first strategic mistake in July by highlighting an issue that should have been kept under the radar, even though the Commission is still a good idea. |
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The Tories made a second strategic mistake in using language which implied that full-funding was a done deal without discussion of details, prior to the Commission reporting. |
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Contrary to some experts, we believe that the PC Party has no way of shaking the Bill Davis legacy. It’s a good one to be proud of and build on properly, with some care. |
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Scenario #3 - Education |
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The education establishment is clearly behind the Liberal position – see Bulletins 11 and 12 – of totally inclusive education in one system. |
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The Catholics were conspicuous by their absence on the issue of minority rights. Their statements were limited to justifying the status quo. |
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The teacher unions have developed some of sophisticated PR fronts to create an indirect media voice that speaks for working families and children without identifying their sponsors. |
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Scenario #4 - Media |
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11. |
The hysterical public reaction is definitely a media responsibility caused by repeating the nasty profiling mantras. There was no public interest in the issue until the major media started amplifying the Liberal attack in similarly irrational editorials and articles. |
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Despite the fact that many radio, TV and papers provided balanced coverage, the leading opinion makers did not challenge the fear-mongering because they themselves are believers in the separation of church and state. The neutrality myth of schooling is alive and well, regardless of what the Canadian Constitution says about minority rights. |
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Scenario #5 - Culture |
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13. |
The majority of citizens were persuaded that school choice was a formula for abusing “public” money to subvert Ontario’s “fragile” society.
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