Way back in 1935 Liberal leader fought for extended funding for Catholic schools based on constitutional grounds.  And he won a smashing victory.

Look in on my blog  at neilmckenty.wordpress.com

That being said I find McGuinty's position totally ludicrous as well.  Its possibly the most disappointing aspect of his time in office.  It would be one thing if he said his long term goal was to eliminate funding for Catholic schools but that more time was needed.   I would understand that.   I'd prefer that he have the courage to actually take the steps now but it would be better than letting religious schools get their "foot in the door" so to speak.    But the tradition argument is ludicrous.    One of my favourite quotes of all time was by GK Chesterton when he said "Tradition means giving a vote the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors.  It is the democracy of the dead".   Some of the most important progressive initiatives of the past hundred years have been made in the face of the tradition argument. 

I grew up and was educated in the US. There were plenty of Catholic schools but they got zero public funding. Dedicated Catholic parents who were finacially able paid the tuition and sent their kids to Catholic school. Many Catholic students, however, were educated in public schools. Either their parents couldn't afford the luxury of private, religious schooling or they opposed the concept of separation on the basis of religion. The outcome was that we protestant kids had Catholic classmates who also became our friends.

I have a lot of Canadian family and growing up, I was very close to my Canadian cousins. Even as a fairly young child of 11 or 12, I saw my protestant Canadian cousins distrusted and disliked Catholics far more than any of my American public school classmates. I wasn't aware of teh nature and history of Catholic school funding when I was an American kid. After moving to Canada and raising a child in our school system, I realized why my cousins were so intolerant. They'd been kept apart from Catholics and they distrusted what they didn't understand. 

The Newfies made a sensible move. Interestingly enough, Newfoundland was the scene of some horrific pitched Protestant-Catholic battles that are reminiscent more of Northern Ireland than of Canada.

We need excellence in education. We owe that to our children and to future generations of Canadians. We won't maintain or develop an excellent system if we divvy up what little resources we have among as many disparite groups as can cobble together a classroom. Keep religion out of the public purse and out of public education. That's why they have Sunday Schools.

Nope.. that wouldnt affect it. I look at it from a social liberal POV that says I agree with the UN saying we are discriminating against these other faiths by not funding them as we do the public and Catholic school boards.  My solution is to be fair and fund all of them, rather then create more problems by attempting to remove the funding given to the Catholic school board.