Ontario Minister Seeks to Remove Trustee Over Italy Trip Scandal

Ontario’s Education Minister Paul Calandra has introduced a new bill to remove one school board trustee from his position. The move comes after a controversial trip to Italy last year involving four trustees from the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board.

During the trip, the trustees spent around $50,000 on travel and purchased $100,000 worth of art for the board. Calandra said that three of the trustees have repaid their expenses, but one trustee, Mark Watson, refused to pay his share of $12,370.

Calandra said the government had warned Watson to “pay it back or be fired,” and now they are following through on that promise. The minister called the spending “excessive and unjustifiable” and said the bill would make Watson ineligible to serve as a trustee until 2030 and unable to run in the 2026 municipal elections.

Watson has not yet responded to requests for comment.

Meanwhile, Minister Calandra is also considering major changes to school board governance across Ontario. He has already placed five school boards under government supervision, claiming they were poorly managed. He said he might even consider eliminating the role of trustees entirely by the end of the year.

“I’ve been talking with parents and teachers across the province,” Calandra said. “They all want better results from school boards—and we are ready to make it happen.”