Ford and Calandra: Ontario’s answer to Trumpism in public education

As heartlands around the world watch democracy unravel under authoritarian leaders, Ontario is teetering into its own peril – under the rule of Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Paul Calandra. Their latest moves against public education echo the worst tactics of Trump-era governance: centralizing power, silencing dissent, and sacrificing communities for political gain.

This is no accident.

Ford, the populist premier, has his pawns in place to dismantle democracy in our schools. Calandra, without education experience, has handed the reins of the Toronto DSB to Rohit Gupta whose prime qualification is in managing  mergers and acquisitions. Tory backing comes from a corrupt donor class waiting in line for goodies, whether it’s the pointless Highway 413, the doomed Greenbelt fiasco, or special consideration for private healthcare clinics and seniors’ homes. They don’t want messy debates or local decision-making. They want control.

Calandra’s recent actions, trumpeted across the province, are deceptive at best. He paused Black history and Holocaust units from the high school curriculum, calling it “inconsistent” and blaming teachers while undermining anti-racism education. His predecessor, Stephen Lecce, opened  the door for a kindergarten “back to basics” with the fantasy that returning to a world of 30 years ago was possible in overcrowded classrooms. Despite his ministry’s incompetence, Calandra promised school boards would be “put on notice;  “every school board that veers off its mandate,” He won’t hesitate to step in. 

In reality, this government’s actions aren’t about student success—they’re political theater.

Sound familiar? Trump’s regime weaponized lies, bullied local officials, and rebranded criminality as transparency. His Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has gutted agencies like Environmental Protection, Federal Emergency Management, U.S. AID while firing thousands of workers. Ontario’s Conservative government uses the same playbook. Calandra’s justification? An expensive  “record $30.3 billion” in education funding. Yet, beneath these headlines lies another  structural deficit caused by Ford-era education cuts—$6 billion and counting—and Ford’s corporate cronies sniffing taxpayer-funded school real estate. The bone they’re circling? I think it’s selling public land for sweetheart housing deals. Another echo of Trump’s privatization agenda.

Like the U.S. MAGA movement, this government demands blind trust in its spending while centralizing control. Bill 33 enables the Minister to break boards, place cops in schools,  control school councils, decide what to name them and defund any sign of local democracy—even programming supporting racialized, Indigenous, or Palestinian solidarity. This law isn’t just anti-education—it’s anti-democratic. Calandra’s move to take over four large school boards and remove trustees – indefinitely –  eliminates not only their voices but those of the people of the people who elected them to office.

But there is resistance—and hope. Across the province, educators and parents are rallying. We see the same defiant cries echoing in U.S. towns: “Enough with the takeovers!” We know that the heart of schools isn’t hedge fund managers, it’s caring teachers, union stewards, and families. Our communities built this system; only we can save it.

So here’s what we must do—starting now:

• • Demand transparency from Calandra. Harass him for details: What are the supervisors going to do with the school boards they completely control? Demand that he release all planned school closures, curriculum changes, and real estate deals. 
  • Fight Bill 33 at every level with public campaigns, town halls, rallies and constant pressure on local MPPs of all parties.
  • Mobilize parents and educators to reclaim local accountability. If we’re silenced, Tories succeed. So let’s be there and be loud when parents and kids return to school with no one to help them with their problems.
  • Protect programming for vulnerable students—Indigenous, Black, racialized, and Palestinian solidarity must stay, no matter what some clueless supervisor might think.
    

 

Ontario educators and parents: this is no time for quiet compliance. This is a national fight for education and democracy. Let’s mirror the resistance we see internationally and show our government that communities—not politicians—own our future.

We won’t let them privatize our schools or our democracy. 

Not in Ontario. Not ever.

 

 

Nigel Barriffe

Dad, Public School Teacher, Singer-Songwriter