John Tory Promotes Creationism

 
This man is John Tory. He's the leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. Right now he's the leader of the Opposition but he's hoping to become Premier after the election on October 10, 2007.

If elected, Tory promises to extend public funding to all religious schools in Ontario. Right now we fund the Roman Catholic Schools as a result of a deal struck at the time of Confederation. I favor abolishing this funding and restricting government funding to the public school system [One School System Network [OSSN]].

Today John Tory stuck his foot firmly in his mouth when he revealed his ignorance of evolution. John Cowan of The National Post—a conservative newspaper—reported it like this [John Tory on creationism, the theory of evolution and why ducks have wings].

It should be said that Ontario Progressive Conservative leader John Tory is usually a thoughtful, articulate guy. But this week, the man has had nothing but a mouthful of foot. First, he referred to the University of Ottawa as the “University of Zero.” Another stumble came today, during an event to promote Mr. Tory’s promise to extend public funding to faith-based schools. A radio reporter asked whether schools would be allowed to teach creationism. Mr. Tory responded: “The Christian-based school would have to teach the Ontario curriculum, which of course has a different explanation. It’s still called the theory of evolution, but they teach evolution in the Ontario curriculum, but they could also mention to children the fact that there are other theories out there that are part of some Christian beliefs.”

Hmmm ... where have we heard that before? Do you know anyone who emphasizes that it's only a theory who isn't a creationist? Tory is in big trouble. He might get away with this in another country but here in Ontario he's going to look like a real fool.

Fortunately for him, his handlers got on the job real quick.

What Mr. Tory did not say was whether evolution would be taught as part of science class or religious studies -- which is, we submit, a pretty important distinction. So important that late this afternoon, the Conservative campaign issued the following press release:

JOHN TORY 2007 CAMPAIGN
STATEMENT OF CLARIFICATION

(Toronto, ON) – In an interview with reporters earlier today, John Tory was asked whether ‘creationism’ could be taught in faith-based schools, if they wished to receive funding under his proposed policy.

POINTS OF CLARIFICATION:
1.) The Ontario curriculum does not allow for creationism (or any other religious theory) to be taught in science classes in Ontario’s public schools.
2.) Mr. Tory clearly stated that any school to be included in the proposal must teach the Ontario curriculum.
3.) Mr. Tory’s proposal would allow creationism to be discussed only as part of religious studies programming, as is now the practice in Ontario’s publicly-funded Catholic schools.

Nobody's going to buy that. Tory clearly questioned whether evolution is true by mentioning that it is a "theory" and other "theories" should be taught.

Tory is running against the current Education Minister Kathleen Wynne (Liberal) in the riding of Don Valley West (Toronto). According to this article in the Canadian Press [ On eve of Ontario election, Conservative leader muses about creationism in schools] she nailed him on the issue.

Education Minister Kathleen Wynne - who is running against Tory for her Toronto seat - said his comments prove his policy hasn't been properly thought out. Creationism is currently not part of the provincial science curriculum and isn't given the same weight as evolution, she said.

Catholic schools may talk about creationism, Wynne said, but only in the context of a broader religious discussion.

"It's useful for students to have the opportunity to know the ideas that are out there and are part of our history," Wynne said.

"What we teach as the truth is the question. The scientific truths are the ones that are included in the Ontario curriculum. That's the curriculum that we support."

The Canadian press is all over this: See this article from the Globe & Mail [Creationism raised as Ont. election issue], and this from Canada.com [John Tory grilled on faith-based schools proposal], and this from The Toronto Star [Tory ignites debate over creationism in schools].

It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.