By Peter Moore
Ontario’s education minister Paul Calandra now has unprecedented powers to suspend school boards without an independent review and to impose police placements in schools, thanks to new legislation passed by his government in record time.
Bill 33, named the “Bill 33 Supporting Children and Students Act”, faced opposition, but was rapidly approved by the majority Conservative government.
“It was rammed through,” said Chandra Pasma (Nepean), education critic for the Official Opposition. By skipping committee hearings on the bill, the government is avoiding the line-by-line scrutiny needed to improve its legislation. “They’re not allowing full debate at third reading, so they’re not allowing us to bring the voice of our constituents to Queen’s Park.”
Calandra introduced the bill on May 29 and passed it the same day to second reading. Usually the bill would then go to committee for discussion and analysis, but the government instead moved it to debate for three days in October and November, then passed it on second reading on Nov. 17. Just two days later, the bill passed 74-40 in the third reading after a short debate, and it received royal assent from the lieutenant-governor on Nov. 20.
The bill’s critics say it was passed too quickly to have a good debate.
“The government knew this bill was deeply unpopular,” said Pasma.
Ontario’s Liberal Party also criticized Bill 33.
“Centralization does not equal accountability; in fact, history shows the opposite: When power moves further away from the people it serves, transparency decreases and responsiveness declines. […] Speaker, elected trustees are the only people in our education system directly accountable to parents. They know the schools, they know the teachers, and they know the families. They attend the school concerts, they respond to parents’ phone calls, and they face the voters every four years. When the minister replaces their authority with unilateral power, he is silencing those voices,” said Lucille Collard, Liberal MLA for Ottawa-Vanier, during the third reading debate. “Local governance isn’t about bureaucratic obstacles; it’s democracy at work. It ensures that decisions about our children’s education reflect local priorities, linguistic realities and cultural identities.”
Green Party leader Mike Schreiner agreed the bill passed too fast. “This bill was fast-tracked and rammed through the legislature without consultation or adequate debate, which has become an unfortunate and disturbing pattern with this government. Education unions, parents, teachers, students and experts were silenced in this process.”
Schreiner said the education system needs its elected local trustees. “Trustees are a vital part of our education system. There are over 5,000 schools across Ontario. Trustees are elected to school boards to support the unique needs of their communities. They are directly accountable to parents, students and community members and can be voted out if they no longer reflect local needs and values. Bill 33 undermines that democratic institution – silencing local voices in favour of partisan politics.”
Ontario’s teachers unions rallied their members outside of Queen’s Park during the final debates.
“Why are they so focused on a bill that allows them to operate with no oversight?” asked René Jansen in de Wal, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers. “They’re out of touch. No minister under this government has collaborated with teachers on anything at all,” he said. “This government seems to lack respect and humility. That leads to bad management and everyone has had that boss.”
The lack of government dialogue with the teachers and parents is a problem, according to Jansen in de Wal, especially because there are real problems in the education system. “Students are struggling to succeed. Parents are struggling to support their kids to meet their potential.”
Schools in big cities, small cities and rural areas “have different and specific needs,” said David Mastin, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. Mastin draws a line between the Conservative government of Mike Harris and today’s government of Doug Ford. “We’ve seen the consistent erosion of public education by Queen’s Park since 1997,” he said. “Bill 33 is removing local control of public education from the province.”
“Instead of addressing the real crisis, which is chronic underfunding, staff shortages, and a lack of specialized supports, Bill 33 distracts from more than $6.3 billion cut from public education since 2018.”
Jansen in de Wal said the appointment of supervisors by the minister makes it impossible to know what is happening in the school boards. “We don’t know what their job is. It’s kind of mysterious.” The lack of transparency is a problem, he said.
Removing school boards will affect the quality of education received by linguistic minorities.
“School boards are vital. In the French-language education system, they are the essential link between communities and their schools. They are built for and by francophones. Any attempt to restrict the Francophone School Boards’ self-governance is an attack on the constitutional rights of Francophones in Ontario and threatens decades of progress for minority language communities from coast to coast,” said Gabrielle Lemieux, president of the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens. “Instead of addressing the real crisis, which is chronic underfunding, staff shortages, and a lack of specialized supports, Bill 33 distracts from more than $6.3 billion cut from public education since 2018.”
Parent organizations also raised concerns about the direction of public education. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance launched a phone call campaign for parents to “Better Call Paul” on Nov. 10 to talk to the education minister about meeting their children’s needs. At a Nov. 12 press conference launching the campaign, the Alliance chair David Lepofsky criticized the government’s approach. “Premier Ford’s Education Minister is making micro-management decisions of the school boards that the Ontario Government has taken over, deciding things like how many students there will be in some special education classes or whether a school board’s Special Education Advisory Committee meetings will continue to be live streamed, or even whether a school’s name should be changed.”
Three days later, Calandra announced he is requiring school boards, including the ones under supervision, to set up Student and Family Support Offices, “so parents and guardians have a clear, effective way to get help regarding their child’s education and find solutions faster. The offices will act as an additional way to help families get answers on broader community concerns, as well as contentious or complex issues that need to be escalated after speaking with the school. This initiative is one more way the government is delivering on its broader plan to make school boards more accountable and focused on student success with a back-to-basics approach that strengthens student achievement and prepares them for rewarding careers.”
“There is no way this is solved by putting a school board under supervision”
On Nov. 25, Calandra told CBC Radio that he was right to suspend the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. The government-appointed supervisor of the school board Robert Plamondon has reported that the final numbers for last year’s budget resulted in a $5.4 million deficit.
On Dec. 1, Calandra suspended the Near North District School Board, on the recommendation of a review report by a ministry staff member, which focused on the board’s failure to build a school on schedule. The first order is for the board to hire an external expert to “to support the Board in conducting a robust, transparent Director of Education performance appraisal for the 2025-2026 school year,” according to the ministry’s website.
It’s the sixth school board suspended and placed under the education ministry’s direct control. The Leveller recently reported on the new Ottawa supervisor Plamondon’s lack of communication after taking over the school board in June.
Pasma said the suspension of school boards does not solve the underfunding problem.
“There is no way this is solved by putting a school board under supervision,” said Pasma.
