A Good Compromise Leaves Everyone Angry

That seems to have been the prevailing wisdom that guided John Tory's new half-step back from faith-based funding. This is worse for him now than where he was before. Those opposed to faith-based funding are not going to rush to embrace the idea that it might not pass a free vote. Those supporting faith-based funding are now witness to the readiness of Tory to walk away from them. Tory just dug himself a deeper hole. He has now lost everyone on the schools issue. If he has a prayer (no pun intended) he's going to have to change the channel quickly.

In the end I think this was an incredibly poorly conceived plan, regardless of what you think of the objectives. For many parents the idea of putting their children in a faith-based school is to get away from the Ontario curriculum in one way or another. Tory would have brought faith-based schools further under the purview of the Ministry of Education, and while some faith-based school parents (FBSPs?) would have endorsed that, for others that was precisely the wrong thing to do.