Quebec puts English school board under trusteeship, alerts anti-corruption police

MONTREAL — Quebec has placed the province’s largest English-speaking school board under trusteeship and sent a report on the organization’s alleged financial irregularities to the anti-corruption police.

The move announced Wednesday by the education minister is the latest round in a public fight between the Coalition Avenir Quebec government and the English Montreal School Board, which is responsible for 44,000 students.

Education Minister Jean-Francois Roberge said an investigation by his department revealed the EMSB improperly awarded millions of dollars worth of public contracts and politicized its decision-making to the detriment of students, staff and parents.

“There were problems with reimbursement of costs that seemed like they shouldn’t have been given. It looks as if there was dividing of contracts, to ensure the contracts were all under $25,000,” the minister told reporters. He said the sums totalled “a few million” dollars, but he referred reporters to the heavily redacted report for more detail.

“Now, was that done because of incompetence, recklessness … or because there was malice and corruption? I really cannot say,” he said, adding that he referred the matter to Quebec’s anti-corruption police “who will take the actions that need to be taken.”

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In a written reply, EMSB vice-chairman Joe Ortona accused the government of going to “extraordinary lengths to discredit” the school board. He said “there is no evidence to suggest anything had been done (or not done) to deliberately attempt to contravene the law.”

But Ortona’s lengthy public statement lent credence to government claims that the school board’s fractious internal relations were taking away from its central mission of educating students.

“The government has capitalized (on) the divisions of a council to promote to promote their smear of the EMSB, and I believe they have done so, aided and abetted by some council members,” he wrote.

The EMSB has also been a vocal critic of the Coalition Avenir Quebec government throughout its first year in power.

The education minister recognized he is in a delicate situation because the school board is suing Quebec over Bill 21, which bans teachers and some other public sector workers from wearing religious symbols at work.

Roberge therefore placed the board in what he called “partial trusteeship” for a six-month period, allowing the board to continue its court case against the government.

The minister named former federal Liberal MP Marlene Jennings as the trusteeship administrator and mandated her to produce a report detailing how the school board can improve its governance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 6, 2019.

Giuseppe Valiante, The Canadian Press