Conservatives & Catholic boards fighting GSA bill

Catholic school boards are vowing to keep fighting the changes to the province’s planned anti-bullying legislation.

If it passes it will require all boards to allow students to form groups with the name ‘Gay-Straight Alliance.’ Previously school principals were allowed to veto the names of clubs.

The bill already has support from the Liberals and the NDP.

Andrea Horwath says it’s up to the government to set the policy. “I think the policy needs to be consistent over all of the boards and I think the policy needs to be one that protects the rights of the students and protects their human rights and that’s exactly what the aim of this legislation is. “

Tory education critic Lisa MacLeod says they plan to fight the change.

“We believe and we’ve got a motion forward that suggests we should eliminate all names, I’m personally of the view that if children want a club they should have one, but you have to allow the community to have a say as well. I’m a conservative I think there needs to be less government intrusion in peoples’ lives so therefore we don’t believe Queen’s Park should be legislating kids’ clubs names regardless of what they are.”

The Catholic school trustees association calls the word gay “a distraction” – and says anti-bullying legislation is supposed to protect all students, not just those bullied because of their sexual orientation.

The Tories say the Liberals are picking a fight with the Catholic school system, which gets about 33 percent of Ontario’s $24 billion education budget. But the New Democrats say the Liberals finally have it right — by admitting you can’t solve a problem like homophobia if you’re afraid to use the word “gay.”

Video: Lisa MacLeod and Andrea Horwath on the legislation: