In December of 1997 the first “Ontario School Referendum” ad was placed in the Ottawa Citizen. In the spring of 1998, similar ads were placed in the Windsor Star and the London Free Press. In April and May of 1999, the ad was placed in all the other provincial daily papers in Ontario (which excludes the Globe & Mail and the National Post), plus the odd weekly. The ad has thus appeared in 45 papers in Ontario. The question was: “Do you support a single school system where all children, regardless of their religious affiliation, attend the same schools where opportunities for religious education, not specific to a religious denomination, is provided?”
Due to poor placement and therefore response, the ad in the Toronto Star was repeated in September.
School Referendum Results
| Location |
Yes |
No |
%Yes |
| Barrie |
77 |
9 |
90% |
| North Bay |
126 |
43 |
74% |
| Belleville |
77 |
17 |
82% |
| Orillia |
48 |
4 |
92% |
| Brantford |
104 |
102 |
50% |
| Ottawa Citizen(1997) |
823 |
187 |
82% |
| Brockville |
85 |
16 |
84% |
| Ottawa Sun |
93 |
25 |
78% |
| Burlington |
398 |
107 |
79% |
| Owen Sound |
51 |
13 |
80% |
| Cambridge |
13 |
5 |
72% |
| Pembroke |
80 |
22 |
78% |
| Chatham |
36 |
13 |
74% |
| Peterborough |
119 |
15 |
89% |
| Cobourg |
39 |
5 |
89% |
| St Catherines |
138 |
48 |
74% |
| Cochrane |
2 |
2 |
50% |
| St Thomas |
28 |
8 |
78% |
| Cornwall |
70 |
26 |
74% |
| Slt St Marie |
108 |
14 |
89% |
| Fort Frances |
22 |
13 |
63% |
| Simcoe |
116 |
12 |
91% |
| Guelph |
42 |
20 |
68% |
| Stratford |
82 |
13 |
86% |
| Hamilton |
156 |
26 |
86% |
| Sudbury |
127 |
46 |
73% |
| Harrow |
12 |
1 |
92% |
| Thunder Bay |
93 |
43 |
68% |
| Kapuskasing |
9 |
1 |
90% |
| Timmins |
38 |
19 |
67% |
| Kenora |
24 |
6 |
80% |
| Toronto Star |
148 |
21 |
88% |
| Kingston |
178 |
118 |
60% |
| To Star Sept |
541 |
216 |
71% |
| Kirkland Lake |
29 |
2 |
94% |
| Toronto Sun |
551 |
101 |
85% |
| Kitchener |
233 |
44 |
84% |
| Welland |
75 |
53 |
59% |
| Lindsay |
17 |
5 |
77% |
| Windsor (98 |
380 |
58 |
87% |
| London (98) |
454 |
86 |
84% |
| Woodstock |
39 |
8 |
83% |
| Long Lac |
3 |
1 |
75% |
| Farm Review |
17 |
2 |
89% |
| Niagara Falls |
99 |
23 |
81% |
| Totals |
5949 |
1602 |
79% |
|
| This newspaper poll shows that 79% of Ontarians want separate schools abolished. This poll was conducted all across Ontario, mostly in April & May of 1999.
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