{"id":137839,"date":"2025-09-12T05:20:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T05:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/137839\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T05:20:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T05:20:14","slug":"trustees-accuse-ontario-education-minister-of-hypocrisy-over-focus-on-expenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/137839\/","title":{"rendered":"Trustees accuse Ontario education minister of hypocrisy over focus on expenses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ontario school board trustees are calling Education Minister Paul Calandra a \u201chypocrite\u201d for going after individual expenses, pointing out he has racked up tens of thousands of dollars in his own expenses as a member of cabinet and provincial parliament.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s the latest twist in a growing battle between the government and school board trustees, many of whom face the possibility of being eliminated.<\/p>\n

Calandra recently hammered school boards for what the government argues is wasteful spending and has tasked provincially-appointed supervisors to comb through trustee spending and highlight individual expenses.<\/p>\n

Examples include the $15 Toronto Catholic District School Board Chair Markus de Domenico spent on a milkshake<\/a>, the purchase of five TV wallmounts and a payment of $145 for an Apple watch band.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people would expect that you ensure the integrity of the expenses of the people who are managing the system,\u201d the education minister recently told Global News.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSome of the things that we found have been obviously hugely surprising. Just the other day, I was told that one of the trustees expensed $1.32 (for) Apple Music, \u2018Suspicious Minds\u2019 song, on her way back from the casino in Niagara Falls, where she expensed a meal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calandra\u2019s office said the expenses he was referring to were for Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee Maria Rizzo.\u00a0 They said she had also claimed an Apple TV subscription, Amazon and iCloud.<\/p>\n

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The song Calandra referenced cost $1.46, receipts from his office show, along with several purchases at MGE Niagara Entertainment.<\/p>\n

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A news release issued by the Toronto and York Region Labour Council on Thursday, quoting trustees including Rizzo, went after Calandra\u2019s expenses, accusing him of hypocrisy.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinister Paul Calandra likely receives $40,000 a year for a constituency office and is expensing tens of thousands to taxpayers for food, hotels and events,\u201d Rizzo said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy fellow trustees and I don\u2019t have a constituency office \u2014 it\u2019s the local Tim Horton\u2019s. The cost of our offices is a coffee or a milkshake for a constituent. It\u2019s unbelievably hypocritical to call $15 expense questionable when the Minister is spending thousands on strawberry pancakes and BBQs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The minister\u2019s office said it was \u201claughable\u201d to compare the expenses of part-time school board trustees to those of a minister, pointing out the pancake events and BBQs were free for anyone in the riding to attend and are designed to connect with residents.<\/p>\n

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The expense for a \u201cStrawberry Festival Pancake Breakfast\u201d refers to an event hosted by Calandra, the local mayor and two members of parliament, his office said.<\/p>\n

The funds MPPs are allowed to claim are strictly governed and generally relate to accommodation near Queen\u2019s Park during debates, hosting events to connect with constituents or travel to and from the legislature.<\/p>\n

Last year, Calandra tallied $54,142 in office rent, according to staff and office expense disclosures.<\/p>\n

De Domenico \u2014 the TCDSB chair \u2014 pointed out his expenses are \u201cvetted by our staff\u201d and said the ministry was attacking his spending \u201cin order to silence me.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Calandra\u2019s expenses that the group focused on was titled \u201cspecial circumstances accommodation in Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Minister Calandra going to pay back all of the $5,700 he expensed for stays in Toronto hotels?\u201d Marianne Larsen, a Thames Valley District School trustee, asked in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is he allowed to bill tax payers almost $6,000 for hotel stays when he lives so close by, especially as he\u2019s accused others in school boards of \u2018extremely poor judgement\u2019 in the use of public funds?\u201d<\/p>\n

Calandra\u2019s office said the minister lives in Stouffville on the edge of the area where he would qualify for a Toronto property under the rules at Queen\u2019s Park and stays in Toronto when there are late-night debates or early ministerial duties.<\/p>\n

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Over the past several months, Calandra has focused on the issue of questionable financial decisions as the driver of his plans to reform school boards.<\/p>\n

A trip to Italy and another to the Blue Jays Hotel were among the catalysts for a slew of school board takeovers.<\/p>\n

In recent days, he has softened his stance on savings and said he wants broader reform to address the \u201cpolarized political cesspool\u201d he believes school boards have become.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ontario school board trustees are calling Education Minister Paul Calandra a \u201chypocrite\u201d for going after individual expenses, pointing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,549,13403,44,44643,13404,714],"class_list":["post-137839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-education","tag-ford-government","tag-news","tag-ontario-education","tag-ontario-politics","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}