We just call it what it is - the class system on steroids. The original concept of public education system was to level the playing field, offering at least equality of opportunity, and maybe a modicum of equality of results - not to reinforce the exciting system. This is what most of the Anglosphere calls streaming, or the US calls tracking. Almost all educational research concludes that streaming exacerbates existing inequalities. 

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In 2024, the National Assembly was shocked by a joint motion from the Quebec Liberals and Parti Quebecois to end public support for private religious schools as part of Quebec’s slow evolution towards secularism. The Quebec Solidaire party supports abolition of public support for all private schools, not just religious schools. The governing conservative CAQ party, defeated the motion but CAQ is running well behind the other parties in the polls so a major shakeup may happen after the next election. 

 

A 2016 report from Conseil superieur de l’education found the Quebec education system to be the most unequal in Canada. This is class based segregation, is no different or insidious than race based segregation. This is the result of fierce competition between private and public schools. Private schools are subsidized up to 60% which causes middle class flight. The 60% is the perfect level to heavily subsidize the already affluent but still exclude the poor who cannot afford the 40% copay. The entire architecture of educational inequality in Quebec stems from using public money to support private education. When you control for SES, or class, private school academic results are no better than the public schools in the same postal code. We are all aware that private schools are really about contacts for future business and bragging rights like a yacht or an LV bag. In short, inequality in education underpins inequality in society. 

 

The fightback from public boards is based on specialty schools, based on the arts, science and technology, IB schools, since they are reserved for high achieving students. And most of these ‘’public schools’’ and we use the term loosely, are allowed to charge participation fees. In order to fight the elitists, we must become the elitists. 

 

Quebec may be the worst, but it is far from the only province that Kow Tows to elitist parents. After QC 21% we have BC 13%, AB 6%,SK 2%, MB 7%, ON 7%, NS 3.3%, NB 1%, PEI 1%, NL 1.6% YK 0%, NWT 0% NU 0%.

 

Alberta and Quebec, as above, fund up to 60% of private schools per pupil costs, while BC, SK, and MB fund up to 50%. Public support for private schools is a major contributor to educational inequality but it's not the only one. 

 

Three of the most educationally successful nations in the west, comparable to Canada, have minimal private education. Finland has 5% of its students in private schools with zero tuition, Estonia 5.9% and Switzerland has 5%. 

 

‘’Specialty schools’’ come in many forms. They would include public Charter schools like Alberta, religious schools that track on ethnic groups who happen to have higher average SES, IB schools and programs within schools, Gifted programs, French Immersion programs and schools, arts schools, and many others. Nominally, a fig leaf argument can be made that the purpose of the school was not originally, segregation by social class, but if the de facto result is a fully middle class student body where everybody can wink, and say in theory, a poor kid might have made it through the screening process, auditions, transportation issues, even academic testing, religion, networking, required volunteering, participation fees, uniform requirements, then that one kid is the rare exception that proves the rule. It is the worst kept secret in education, that certain language, religions, curricula, and other criteria, have the effect of creating elitist programs within a public system nominally  designed to create equality of opportunity. Some schools will go so far as to offer a tiny group of scholarships to very bright poor kids, for the purpose of saying ‘’look at Robert’’ who, by the way, wins debates and awards, to make the school look good.

 

If we are frank, we will admit that it is not uncommon for parents to seek out the best possible education situation for their children. Even progressives are often guilty of this, but sadly, some are seeking a free cloistered private school experience on the public dime because, you must understand, their child is ‘’special’’. They may still be surprised that there were no sheppards, no wise men following a bright star at their child’s birth, but they are still special. 

 

Specialty programs are designed to keep the middle class sweet, and retained within the public system but, they are actually making the problem worse. This is a low level, ongoing, power struggle between elites who demand hierarchy and inequality, against a school system doing its level best to provide equality of opportunity and a glimmer of equality of outcomes. 

 

Ontario has, for the first time in decades, taken serious action towards equality by destreaming grade 9, the very last province to accomplish this. Some school boards have begun de-streaming grade 10. This progress is slow but at least it’s steady. 

 

The catholic school board has long bothered many equity seeking groups. The catholic system, about 29% of the Ontario public system, is a fully funded system which has been very slow, for example, to embrace queer rights, but it is not an elite system. In the past, the SES of the catholic system was actually lower than the public system although today it is slightly higher, does not constitute a class based advantage, 

 

Alberta is the only province with American style charter schools. This worrisome trend could be the thin edge of the wedge if conservative governments keep getting reelected but at this point they represent just 1.4% of Alberta students. There are positive signs in the US where charter schools growth seems to have crested and is now falling back. Compared to the 6% in private schools. Overall, Alberta has a reasonably equal system but it is headed in the wrong direction. 

 

British Columbia, ‘the left coast’, surprisingly, is a real problem.Support for private schools was instituted by Social Credit Premier Bill Bennett in 1977, under the Independent School Support Act. Social Credit, now defunct, was a very conservative party with close ties to Evangelical Christians. The difficult thing for many opponents of private and religious funding is that a series of NDP governments have been reluctant to abolish or even restrict the policy. The answer BCTF and similar organizations get, behind closed doors is ‘’is this the hill you want to die on?’’ Ending public funding for private education  would be seen as a real stick in the eye to elite parents. Clearly, Big Business in BC always funds the NDP’s opponents but at this point, it is almost performative. The NDP seems to fear that an attack on private education funding might become the big motivator for the right to launch class warfare from above. The excuse runs along the lines that a private student gets only 50% of the public grant but if that student was forced into the public system, it would cost double. 

 

Nevertheless, every poll shows 66% support for the abolition of support for private education, 78% support for abolishing support for elite style schools, 69% opposition to religious school funding with 51% strongly opposed to private school support funding that reached $491 million in 2022. It's hard to believe that with very tight elections like 2024, ending support for private education wouldn’t be a political home run but the ‘’let sleeping dogs lie’’ perspective remains. Public school supporters have little choice, as the Conservative party is significantly worse. 

 

The Atlantic provinces are not part of the problem. To begin, they are only 7% of the population, and don't really have the scale to support private schools. There is a short list of 3-4 private schools in each Atlantic province, usually catholic or Evangelical Christian schools. In NL 7.5% are enrolled in private schools, NS 3.1%, PEI 2%, NB 1%. 

 

Overall, Canada is considered one of the world’s best education systems and equity is apparently a hallmark, compared to other national systems yet, we have ideologues, corporations, elitists, and individuals determined to give some students an advantage both outside and within the public education system. 

 

Parents and education staff across Canada are yelling from the rooftops, that the education system is seriously underfunded, especially when considering enrollment growth and inflation. When politicians turn their pockets inside out and whine that there is no money The first response from the public should be, first, stop funding elite and private education. Then we’ll talk. 

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