Funding of religious schools “must be thought through,” says Legault

Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press The Premier of Quebec responded to the opposition during question period on Thursday, October 24, at the Legislative Assembly of Quebec.

Marco Bélair-Cirino in Quebec

Published at 12:28 PM Updated at 5:21 PM

• Quebec

Premier François Legault says he is willing to “debate […] in good faith” the abolition of public funding for private religious schools, 24 hours after rejecting a motion to that effect in the National Assembly.

“This is a weighty question that needs to be thought about,” he said in a message posted on the social network X on Friday.

Education Minister Bernard Drainville and the minister responsible for secularism, Jean-François Roberge, will be able to assess the possibility of reviewing subsidies granted to private religious schools when they look for new ways to “strengthen controls on secularism in Quebec schools.” “The government has already committed to reviewing the place of religion in schools and we are of course open to debating all of this, in good faith, with the opposition parties,” continued Mr. Legault.

The Parti Québécois, the Quebec Liberal Party and Québec solidaire are calling on the CAQ government to cut public funding for religious schools, which amounts to about $160 million per year, according to calculations by PQ MNA Pascal Bérubé.

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PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon cited as examples “the Catholic school L’Eau-Vive in Quebec City, which has an educational mission focused on biblical values, [a] Muslim school [in Montreal] that teaches the Koran and gives Islamic education classes to its students, as well as the Beth Jacob Jewish school, which has promoted its unwavering commitment to Orthodox Jewish values” in the National Assembly this week.

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The Quebec government will not act “on a whim” or “on the back of the table” by immediately ending public funding for private schools as the opposition parties are asking, maintains Mr. Legault, saying he leads a “responsible” team.

In this case, why did the CAQ elected officials refuse to support the motion tabled Wednesday by Mercier MNA Ruba Ghazal, providing that “the National Assembly reaffirm that the secular nature of public education is an essential condition for living together,” in addition to asking the Quebec government to consider ending public funding for private denominational schools?” ? wonders the ranks of Québec solidaire.

Liberal Party Dispute

In the PLQ, leadership candidates Denis Coderre and Frédéric Beauchemin have registered their dissent to the Liberal parliamentary group’s decision to now demand an end to public funding for so-called religious schools.

Montreal MP “Fred” Beauchemin says he has “no problem” with subsidies given to private religious schools as long as the “curriculum” dictated by the Ministry of Education is “effectively taught as it should be.” “We want to allow parents […] to send their children to the schools of their choice,” he said in a press briefing Friday.

Struck with “shock,” former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre said he was sorry to see the Liberal caucus unable to escape the “absolutist and sectarian tendency without discernment and nuance” in vogue in the political class. He and Frédéric Beauchemin are asking the party to broaden the discussion on public funding of private schools.