John Tory's pledge to implement publicly funded faith-based education in Ontario has reared its ugly head again. I'm not sure why, but The Toronto Star has run the story for the second day in a row. Mr. Tory has this bit of logic for us:

Rather than divide students of different religions, public funding – and accountability – would bring them closer together ...

Let me try and make sense of this in my mind: separating students from the main stream into smaller homogeneous religiously oriented groups will bring them closer together. Closer together with who, members of their own group? Will this bring Christian students closer to Muslims? Closer to Hindus? I can't help but view Mr. Tory's divisive plan as another Conservative ploy to undermine the public education system in this province, not unlike the attempt a few years back by his predecessors, Mr. Harris and Mr. Eves. It's the old divide and conquer trick. Here's the Ministry of Education response to the issue:

It's a terrible idea, Liberal Education Minister Kathleen Wynne said yesterday.

"(Ontarians) do not want to see our society divided. They do not want to see kids segregated from one another," Wynne said. "We need an inclusive system in this province that allows kids to learn together, be together and understand each other."

The move would strip $500 million of badly needed funding from the existing public system that serves 95 per cent of Ontario's students, she said.

It's good to hear the education minister talking sensibly.