General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours

[ijmorlan]

Yes, the constitution can be amended, in principle. The last two attempts both failed, though, and the current odds of a successful amendment are very long given that we have several rather intransigent provinces.

Thanks for digging that up. Weird how Quebec is defined in terms of Ontario in that last provision.

I’m pretty sure the constitution can be amended in matters that affect only a single province without everybody else having a say. This would affect only Ontario so as long as the federal government agreed I think it would be OK. Also, if Quebec and Newfoundland can do it why can’t Ontario?

And of course funding for separate schools only went to Grade 10 until 1985, so this part could be rolled back without any constitutional amendment.

Another partial measure that might be possible would be to interpret the human rights parts of the constitution as taking priority over the catholic funding part, meaning that, for example, the catholic boards might be required to take the same stance on LGBTQ issues as the public boards. They can teach Catholic dogma in religion class, but school policies shouldn’t be informed by Catholic bigotry.