THUNDER BAY – A Thunder Bay Conservative MPP says he wouldn’t put much stock into rumours the Doug Ford government is planning to consolidate 72 school boards in Ontario to four.
Kevin Holland, Ontario’s associate minister of forestry and forest products, was responding to a question posed to him on Friday afternoon, after the Elementary Teachers' Federation issued a news release addressing rumours of a school board collapse.
“This is the first I’m hearing of it, so it appears to be rumours,” Holland said, directing reporters to the minister of education, Paul Calandra for further clarification.
“As far as I can say, it’s just rumours right now.”
ETFO president David Mastin on Friday said any move to consolidate Ontario’s school boards into four, centralized operations, would not only be a bad idea, it would decimate public education in the province.
“It would destabilize schools across the province and put student learning, safety and well-being at risk. Premier Ford and Education Minister Paul Calandra aren’t reforming education, they are intent on dismantling a world-class public education system that educators have build and defended for generations,” Mastin said in a release.
Calandra is on record saying he is putting together a plan that could potentially end the role of school-board trustees province wide.
“I’m 100 per cent looking at the elimination of the trustee position,” he told CBC’s Metro Morning program on Friday.
The province has already moved this year to take over five school boards in southern Ontario, including the Toronto District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board, and told boards across the province to start directing money into classrooms.
Calandra told CBC he’s not considering the elimination of school boards, but isn’t ruling out more takeovers and have forged Bill 33, a means to make that process easier and not require an outside review.
Mastin argued the province is considering the move to undermine 2026 collective bargaining with ETFO and other educator unions, which could wipe out local bargaining and give the province even more power over the education system and its employees.
“This backroom scheme isn’t about students or educators; it’s about control. Bulldozing local democracy and forcing communities from Kenora to Ottawa under mega-boards that could never meet their needs is reckless and unacceptable,” Mastin said.
“To be clear, this is American-style privatization creeping into Ontario. Their agenda is clear: sideline local voices, starve public schools of funding, and open the door to private interests. The last time a Conservative government tried something this drastic, educators and the public pushed back, and we know the impact that had.”
A spokesperson from Lakehead Public Schools said the board is focused on its students and has not heard of a credible plan to shut it or any other board down.
“We are currently unaware of any rumour and look forward to the continued success of our school communities in the year ahead,” said the board’s communications supervisor, Jamie Smith, in an email response on Friday afternoon.
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, who was in Thunder Bay, said the consolidation of school boards to the extent of ETFO’s accusation would be worrisome.
“I”d be very concerned about the local voice. Education is very local, it would mean the consolidation of union contracts, etc. At the end of the day, who will represent the parents and the needs of the children? We need that local voice and local representation,” Crombie said, adding there has to be protections for French language schools, in particular.