Unadorned Concept of Civic Duty: aim to serve
TORONTO – It will soon be decision day for the electorate in municipal elections. Gianfranco Cristiano, candidate for Trustee in the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), stands out as one who appears as an unvarnished example of those who aspire to public service for “the right reasons”. What follows is a stripped-down summary of the hour-long interview in our offices.
Congratulations on your willingness to present yourself for office at this level. Your [entire] family must be supportive, otherwise why try this again, especially when the Board is under supervision… some say suspension?
Thank you. You note that there is “unfinished business”. My parents, my wife, our extended families and neighbours are enthusiastically behind my candidacy. Catholic schools gave us a cultural, morals-based environment in which to grow our values as a family-oriented ethos, where meritocracy never excludes compassion and empathy. These values have been put under unnecessary stain by those who attack that ethic from within and without. It is important to understand why Catholics before us earned a position of equality in our country’s Constitution, and to promote that.
Corriere follows Trustee candidates and what they think is the Catholic ethic. What do you think is the correct one?
There is only one. The definition developed and supported by the Catholic Church as enunciated by the local Archbishop/Cardinal. That is the one the Constitution recognizes and builds its laws and regulations around. Trustees have a fiduciary obligation to protect that. They swear allegiance yearly to the Church as part of their denominational obligation.
But they also have an obligation to the “state” (the province), that “pays the bill”.
It is not an either/or situation. No one disagrees. Trustees also swear allegiance to the Crown; yet even the current Minister for Education publicly says his estimate is that the denominational rights account for about 25% of the educational duties and responsibilities. Parents do not give up their all their authority and responsibility when they send their children to school. My parents did not. Like you, I am as much, if not more, a product of their “environment” as I am of the school’s.
In this election, the focus is equally on financial management competence and governance. This Board was put under supervision for the lack of all three, according to the Investigator assigned, but those responsible are still in office or running for re-election.
Agreed. I have hard-earned recognition for managerial competence. If I behave similarly my job would disappear with the snap of someone else’s fingers. I am committed to searching for different solutions and to seeking out more penetrating, longer term results. My candidacy is testament to the fact that I do not conform to the local decision-making that forced the government to discipline the Board with supervision. I want my wife and children to be able to say I did better, that I chose the path of fiscal responsibility, innovative programming (like international languages), flexible delivery of programs and accountability by all who have the enviable duty of replacing absentee parents with systems and people who behave as my wife and I would on their behalf.
In the pics, Gianfranco Cristiano in our editorial office