Quebec Liberal Party committee argue public funds should not be used to teach religion

Following the controversy caused within the Quebec Liberal Party caucus by the change of position on the funding of religious schools last October, the Liberal Political Committee is recommending that the party officially adopt a position that balances the two.

The document, of which The Canadian Press obtained a copy, recommends that the party’s official position should be that “public money should not be used to teach religion” in Quebec schools.

This position had already been stated by the interim Liberal leader, Marc Tanguay, and does not go as far as MNA Marwah Rizqy who said last October: “We are now of the opinion that we must stop funding religious schools in Quebec.”

Rizqy’s about-face by the Liberals had caused tension within the caucus. Some Liberals came out publicly to say they did not agree with the end of funding for religious schools.

Marc Tanguay then stated he intended to tighten the screws on MNAs who stepped out of line.

Faced with these tensions, the political committee set up a working group, co-chaired by Alexandra Malenfant-Veilleux and former senator André Pratte, to look into the matter.

Few problem schools

The report states that the funding formula for private religious schools means that they receive “60 per cent of the cost of educating young people in public schools.”

“In other words, this public funding does not cover the full cost of teaching the educational system prescribed by Quebec. Consequently, logically, this funding is not used to teach religion, unless it takes the place of courses provided for in the educational system,” the report states.

According to the document, “the number of problematic schools, i.e. establishments that offer religious instruction and do not comply with the basic school regulation, is relatively small.”

The report cites the example of the Belz school in Montreal, where the time devoted to compulsory subjects was not respected.

Despite this, the political committee also recommends that the Liberal Party call on the Quebec government to map “the teaching of religion in all schools where this type of teaching takes place” and that any subsidized or non-subsidized public school that does not “fully respect the pedagogical regime set by the Ministry of Education be immediately placed under trusteeship, and that at the end of the academic year, if the situation has not been corrected, that school see its public funding suspended.”

“The state should not intervene because a religion is being taught (…), but the government should act decisively when this denominational teaching is to the detriment of students‘ general education,” the document states.

The report’s recommendations are likely to spark debate within the party and in the race for the leadership.