Education in fighting. Ad hominem attacks
TORONTO – On the matter of government funding for Education and the organizational infrastructure to shape our children and grandchildren for the world ahead, the players who do the “heavy lifting” – as in, who pay the piper – are at odds. Well, that is not entirely true.
The Alpha, as in the financier who holds the keys to heaven (or power to misdirect to that other place), has just flicked the bug, as in nuisance, off his sleeve. Whoever was the genius who advised the Trustee Chair of the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) to heap scorn on the Minister of Education with partisan drivel should face a firing squad. Oh, Oh… trouble ahead, I meant that metaphorically.
After a months-long series of investigations into the fiscal probity of four of the province’s school boards – including the Two Toronto Titans – Minister Calandra said, and I take pains to paraphrase: Aha, so it is true! these trustees and senior staff are downright irresponsible, incompetent or even fraudulent. Now that competent, qualified money-wise investigators have presented “evidence” to that effect, “off with their heads”. School boards/trustees be gone! We will do what’s right for the children.
The TCDSB fumbled to explain three in-year deficits. Its Chair groped for vocabulary to wash away the eyesore of a $100 million surplus at the end of 2023 that the board’s Staff converted into a $48 million deficit in mid 2024 and extended to $78 million at fiscal year end ’24-’25. That Chair, one Mr. De Domenico, ventured that Minister Calandra (in the pic below) was little more than an ultra right-wing ideologue insensitive to the needs of the TCDSB’s clientele.
After all, he said, the denominational rights of Catholic parents (and by extension, their children’s) are embedded in the Constitution, the document that identified them as founding partners and signatory to the federation we call Canada. As an aside, the cyclists who claimed their rights to bike lanes were neither. Mr. De Domenico and his fellow trustees have been anything but defenders of denominational rights, going as far as doing their utmost to purge the TCDSB of anything denominational in their character.
Both De Domenico and Minister Calandra took to the Press and Media to plead their version of truth, justice and the Canadian way. (Listen to the audio her below, from Newstalk 1010).
I’ve made it clear: when trustees fail in their duties, I will not hesitate to step in. The education funding we provide should be going straight to the classroom. pic.twitter.com/RrIOtT6mWc
— Paul Calandra (@PaulCalandra) September 5, 2025
Minister Calandra provided invoices and petty acquisitions made by De Domenico “on the public dime” for which he sought reimbursement. (See the pics here below, from the Toronto Sun) In my view, Minister Calandra won round one.
Now round two. How did Mr. Calandra produce the hard copy evidence on such short notice? Only the Chair and the Director of the Board can speak officially on the Board’s behalf. In fact, on the question of invoices for expenses incurred by the Chair, only the Director can approve them. If the Minister asked for the expenses filing of the Chair, the Director, Brendan Browne, would have been obligated to provide them in a flash. This is the same director who presented trustees with the financial plan cited above. He still has his job – at $300K plus expenses and twelve weeks of paid holidays. This must irritate the Minister. And maybe even the Cardinal responsible for maintaining the Catholic denominational rights in the Constitution, the Director and Trustees are mandated to administer.
How are your children doing in class?
In the pic below, Markus de Domenic (the image is from his Twitter X profile, @Markus4Ward2)
