CAQ refuses to end public funding for Quebec's religious schools

François Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) is refusing to end public funding for religious schools.

All the CAQ MNAs present in the House on Thursday voted against a Parti Québécois (PQ) motion calling for consistency with the principles of secularism and the withdrawal of funding for these schools.

The motion also called for the Loi sur laïcité, commonly known as Bill 21, to be strengthened.

Surprisingly, Québec Solidaire (QS) voted with the CAQ, while members of the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) and the PQ voted in favour of the motion.

This is a change of direction for the Liberals, but in 2024, "we're there," said the party's interim leader, Marc Tanguay, at a press briefing, adding that it is normal for a party to "evolve."

In Quebec, some 50 public schools — Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, Muslim, Jewish and Orthodox — receive around $160 million a year in public funding.

On Wednesday, QS MNA Ruba Ghazal tabled a motion calling on the "Quebec government to consider ending public funding for private denominational schools," but it was rejected by the CAQ.

The debate on religious schools was revived this week in the wake of a report on the Bedford public school, which mentions "certain religious practices, such as prayers in classrooms or ablutions in communal toilets."

Legault has instructed Education Minister Bernard Drainville and the Minister for Secularism, Jean-François Roberge, to "examine all options" for "strengthening controls and secularism in schools."

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 24, 2024.