Ontario takes control of London school board, launches probes at 3 others
CBC
Ontario has taken control of one school board over financial mismanagement, launched financial probes of three other boards and ordered a fifth board to repay costs for a trip to Italy to buy art.
New Education Minister Paul Calandra says he is increasing accountability and transparency measures to address "failures" at several boards.
He says boards must use public funds to directly benefit students and provide resources needed by teachers and educators.
Calandra has ordered the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board to repay the cost of the board trip to Italy, as well as the $100,000 spent on art.
School board officials said in November 2024 they'd pay back the $50,000 they spent during the art-buying trip, including money spent on deluxe hotel rooms, a limo ride and $1,600 gourmet dinner.
The province has appointed a supervisor to the Thames Valley District School Board, in London, after it conducted a review in the wake of a staff retreat to Toronto that cost about $40,000 and included a stay at the hotel connected to the Rogers Centre, where the Blue Jays play.
School board leadership revealed the price tag of sending 18 staffers to the retreat in September 2024, prompting sharp criticism from education unions and the public.
It happened at the same time the board was facing a $7.6 million budget deficit and teachers were dealing with shortages of classroom supplies.
The province is also launching investigations at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) over ongoing financial deficits and spending concerns.
This week, the TDSB told parents in a memo it has launched its annual budget process.
Statues on the grounds of the Ontario Legislature will be covered in wrapping to protect them from vandalism ahead of expected protests at Queen’s Park this spring.
In the aftermath of Ontario’s decision to no longer support provincially-funded supervised drug consumption sites, a potential path forward is emerging for the London Ont., based Carepoint Consumption and Treatment Service.
A group of children in the St. John’s neighbourhood of Shea Heights were playing outside last spring, when they made a shocking discovery.
Erin Sheppard's family was excitedly waiting Saturday afternoon to take a direct flight from Halifax Stanfield International Airport to Cancun, Mexico.
N.B. Power's ongoing rate hearing has been told that plans to spend $88.4 million over three years on outside experts to help fix chronic reliability problems at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station might not show results immediately but will pay off eventually.
As the province doubled down on its “tough on crime” measures and calls for federal bail reform this week, rates of violence across Ontario jails — both inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-staff assaults — are rising, according to an analysis of data shared with CBC News by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).
Finance Minister Eric Girard is set to table Quebec’s provincial budget on Wednesday — less than a month before the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) chooses a successor to Premier François Legault.
Manitoba's finance minister says the NDP is funding education adequately, yet won't acknowledge some school divisions are raising taxes because they feel provincial funding hasn’t kept pace.
Saskatchewan's Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) says an RCMP officer who struck a teen with a police truck during a high-speed chase on Kawacatoose First Nation last year should not be charged.
Finance Minister Jim Reiter unveiled his footwear for Wednesday's provincial budget: The same black shoes as last year.
A new report by the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters highlights the importance of investing in transportation in rural parts of the province in order to save lives.
B.C. Premier David Eby has signalled he won't support the federal government's move to temporarily increase rural employers' allowances for temporary foreign workers, saying there should be a pathway to permanent residency instead.
P.E.I. Progressive Conservative MLA and cabinet minister Mark McLane has died, with Premier Rob Lantz paying tribute to his colleague as someone who could always be counted upon.