CLC Blog

I don’t like to be the bearer of bad news, but the so-called “conservative” government of Doug Ford is taking away the voice of Ontarians from the public education system! It is moving swiftly to emasculate and eliminate democratically-elected school board trustees.

If Bill 33 passes, it’s game over for parents hoping to have a direct say over how their children are educated. 

Minister of Education, Paul Calandra, has declared he is open to “eliminating trustees”, who are currently chosen by, and directly accountable to, the people of Ontario. Mr. Calandra claims that “the governance structure is based on a system that is outdated and old and that needs to be modernized, and we’re going to do that work.”

Above: Minister of Education, Paul Calandra - Source: The Canadian Press

Yes, it is true that “democracy” is a rather old idea. Its roots are traced to ancient Athens, the world’s first political democracy, established in the 6th century B.C. We also find that the foundational principles of equality and justice, necessary for every functioning democracy, are laid down in the Hebrew Scriptures, dating back centuries earlier to Moses.

Apparently, such an archaic governance structure has no place in the modern Ontario education system, according to Mr. Calandra. He has threatened: “All school boards across the province should be put on notice, even those that are running a surplus.”

To date, five Ontario school boards have already been taken over by the province under the excuse of financial mismanagement. These are now being run by unelected bureaucrats; the elected trustees have been shut out! If Bill 33 passes, every board could face a similar fate under any excuse whatsoever. This Bill allows the Minister of Education to take “control and charge over the board generally with respect to any matter in any way affecting the board’s affairs.”

Let me give you some key facts to underscore just how far-reaching and extreme this move to eliminate elected school board trustees is:

• For over 175 years, school boards in Ontario have been governed by democratically elected trustees who are accountable directly to the people and parents of the region they serve. This venerable heritage is about to be wiped out by the Doug Ford government.

• There are 72 school boards in Ontario, including all public and Catholic systems in English and French. Every single one is at risk of elimination under Bill 33.

• The Ford government would centralize control in Toronto for all education policies across all schools with no direct accountability to the communities they serve and the parents in those communities.

• According to Alan Campbell, president of the Canadian School Boards Association, “The people of Ontario need to understand that a removal of school boards is a removal of their voice when it comes to what the local public school looks like and how the local public school operates.”

Parents need to be able to influence local school policies and work to rid classrooms of harmful content by applying pressure to their locally-elected trustees. Through our own CLC investigations, we have found sexually-explicit, pornographic materials in dozens of Ontario schools. Only through holding trustees’ feet to the fire, and by electing more principled trustees, can we be sure to effect meaningful reform in our local schools. 

So far, we have seen success in the removal of homosexual “pride” flags in local schools through our advocacy at the board level. The York Catholic Board and Dufferin-Peel Catholic Board voted to stop flying the anti-Christian “pride” flags outside all their schools last year thanks to the lobbying efforts of local parents and ratepayers, with the encouragement of CLC.

We have also seen principled trustees like Michael del Grande (of the Toronto Catholic School Board) speaking up tirelessly to protect children from the LGBT agenda and standing up to preserve traditional, biblical teaching on gender and sexuality in schools.

We cannot count on the Doug Ford government – or any future provincial government – to ban “pride” flags, to remove sexualized filth from school libraries, or to stand up for moral values for our children. We need local trustees to fight these battles, which is why we must stop Mr. Calandra’s efforts and ensure Bill 33 is voted down in the Ontario Legislature.

We are also concerned that the distinctive nature of Ontario’s Catholic school system, which is constitutionally guaranteed, is under threat with Bill 33. The primary purpose of Catholic education is to assist parents in the task of forming their children in the image of Jesus Christ and inculcating the teachings of the Roman Catholic faith. This is unlikely to happen with unelected, non-Catholic bureaucrats running Ontario’s Catholic School Boards.

If you agree that democracy is important in the public education system in Ontario, then please take a moment to reach out to your MPP today with an Action Alert Email or Phone Call. We need to speak up while we can – before the Doug Ford government silences us.

CONTACT YOUR MPP: https://www.votervoice.net/CALIFE/Campaigns/131075/Respond