Ford and Calandra: Ontario’s answer to Trumpism in public education
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Ford’s school board takeover: a real estate heist disguised as education reform?

Nigel Barriffe  – 2025-07-09
The school board takeovers are right in the Ford government’s playbook. Starve the system. Blame everyone else. Change the rules. Sell off public assets. And reward developer buddies. It’s happening again — this time with our schools.

The only thing that’s ever stopped them is organized, vocal, public pressure. That’s what we need now.

Why is Ford really hijacking school boards?

William Paul  – 2025-07-04
Paul Calandra accuses boards of losing focus and mismanagement. This is coming from a minister of the government that brought you Highway 413 and the Greenbelt scandal - for whom mismanagement is a watchword .

“No Other Land” and the politics of hypocrisy

William Paul  – 2025-06-22
“No Other Land," like every good documentary, shows the lives of the people living in Masafer Yatta a West Bank village gradually demolished by the Israel military. It deserves to be watched, not banned by the Toronto DSB which fears its political content.

Bill33: Power grab and cops in schools

William Paul  – 2025-06-09
Bill 33, Supporting Children and Students Act is positively Trumpasitic if you look at the effects of pounding the financial hell out of school boards, blaming them for their problems and then coming up with a Draconian plan to get them to smarten up.

How do we value education?

John Weatherup  – 2025-05-30
How do we value our kids and employees in a Toronto District School Board that has had to cut education routinely? How do we value seniors who paid for the school system through their taxes and now face the possibility of user fees as they try to use it? What is the value of what we think we are doing here as a school board moving forward?

Report says real message of Grassy Narrows rallies lost in fury over Pro-Palestine chants

William Paul  – 2025-05-06
Remember the Grassy Narrows River Run last September? Maybe not. It’s certainly possible you lost the story in the flames of outrage expressed over Toronto DSB students attending the rallies and hearing chants like: “from Turtle Island to Palestine, occupation is a crime” and others by people in the area protesting the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.

What is happening to our most vulnerable students?

William Paul  – 2025-04-23
What is happening to the most vulnerable students in our schools? It’s true that kids may be vulnerable for all sorts of reasons – poverty, underfunding of schools and systemic racism to name a few. But there are at least 358 000 young people that the province acknowledges require special teaching or treatment or accommodation. For many it's not happening.

Conscience: why educators won’t stay silent on Gaza

Nigel Barriffe  – 2025-04-17
As a teacher and union leader, I believe we must stand against all racism — including antisemitism — and against the mass killing of civilians. Our conscience compels us to demand better from our leaders. Canada must implement a two-way arms embargo on Israel now.

Why we can’t blame teachers for a broken system

Nigel Barriffe  – 2025-04-02
Teachers should, if they choose, be able volunteer their time to organize events like sports, concerts, art displays and so on. But that doesn't mean school boards and the Ford government get to use their unpaid work to back off funding.