"Bill 45 is just a cash register for [Premier Michael Harris's] corporate friends," high school science teacher Madis Tambre said. "Business doesn't want an educated workforce."

Bill 45, which the Conservative government of Premier Harris wants to ram through the Legislature by June 28 before the summer break, proposes a far-reaching change to the Ontario education system. If passed, the new law would take effect at the beginning of next year. By 2006 it will allow up to Can$3,500 in tax credits on Can$7,000 in tuition paid for every child a family enrolls in a private school (Can$1 = US 66 cents).

Opponents of the move point out that law allows the state to cut $7,000 from public schools for every $3,500 refunded to a parent who moves a child to a private school. This would amount to some $300 million or more being taken away from an education system already gutted by massive cutbacks over the past decade.

Supporters of the legislation argue that since a separate Catholic school system is already funded by the government then it is only fair for all religious schools to receive public funds. State funding of Catholic schools is imbedded in the 1867 Constitution Act, which was the legal framework for the formation of the Canadian federation.

In 1985 the Ontario Liberal government expanded what was then a partial subsidy of Catholic primary and secondary schools to 100 percent funding. The Liberal Party, which is the official opposition, says it is opposed to Bill 45.

At the present time 42,000 students in Ontario attend religious schools and another 60,000 are in private academic institutions. About 2.2 million students are in the public education system, including those in the separate Catholic school system.

The move represents an about-face by the Conservative government. Sixteen months ago, Ontario education minister Janet Ecker warned that aid to private schools would undermine public education when she rejected a resolution of the United Nations Human Rights Commission calling on Ontario to aid all private religious schools since it already funds a Catholic school system.

"Complying with the UN's demand... would remove from our public education system at least $300 million per year, with some estimates as high as $700 million," she said.

The Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools has already spent $175,000 to lobby the government in support of Bill 45. It is now mounting a $500,000 public campaign to ensure Bill 45 becomes law. The Canadian Jewish Congress also supports the legislation.  
 
Broad opposition
A broad range of organizations is mounting a counterattack against the legislation. In addition to the union-based social democratic New Democratic Party that called the May 31 action, the list includes the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, Ontario Public School Boards Association, Ontario Federation of Home and School Associations, Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Ontario Public School Bus Association, the parents group People for Education, Ecumenical Study Commission of Ontario's largest Protestant churches, Elementary School Teachers' Federation, and an ad hoc coalition of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian parents.

"We oppose tax rebates to private schools while removing resources to public education," Karen Braithwait from Parents of Black Children told the May 31 rally. "We want an inclusive, anti-racist public system, which we expect to be of the highest quality."

High school student Dane Loo told the chanting crowd, "In the last years we have suffered from the loss of extracurricular activities as well as recently because of the disruption of school during the strike of workers employed by the school district, which was a result of Harris refusing to make funds available for the proper operation of our schools. The tax credit plan is simply stealing from public taxes."

A speaker from the Canadian Arab Federation said the "majority of Muslim students go to public schools. There are already high rates of poverty in society. Do we want our children to live in ghettos and underfunded schools with second rate education?"

"Every union member has a stake in public education," Ontario Federation of Labor president Wayne Samuelson told the rally. "The education system belongs to the people, not to Mike Harris. The government has no right to sell it."

"Kill the bill," chanted the protesters repeatedly.

Placards proclaimed: "RIP public education," "Stand up for quality education together," and "No money for private $chool$."

Rosemary Ray is a garment worker, John Steele is a meat packer and a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.  
 
 
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