FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE: Horizon Ottawa condemns Province’s egregious abuse of power on school boards
OTTAWA - Horizon Ottawa is condemning the province’s decision today to take control of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) as an “egregious abuse of power.”
The decision comes only months after the province introduced Bill 33, which gave the Education Minister the power to more easily put school boards under supervision across Ontario, one of the main reasons being to put more police back in schools, among other things.
According to Education Minister, Paul Calandra, the reason they are taking over the OCDSB is due to “financial mismanagement.”
Many of the unions representing teachers and education workers, however, say that this funding crisis is not due to financial mismanagement of Boards but as a result of provincial underfunding.
According to the Elementary Teachers’ Federation (ETFO), schools received $1,500 less per student this school year compared to 2018, when the Ford government was first elected - the equivalent of $3.2 billion in education cuts. There are also 5,000 less classroom educators then there were in 2018, according to the same union.
“This has nothing to do with financial mismanagement and everything to do with control,” said Sofia Chaudhry, Board Member for Horizon Ottawa. “Everyone knows that our school board and school boards across the province are in a financial crisis because of the decisions of this government - they are using this as an excuse to take over school boards to push their own agenda, it’s another affront to local democracy.”
The move today is consistent with Ford’s other attacks on local democracy such as the imposition of strong mayor powers, cutting the size of Toronto City Council in half on a whim, and getting rid of the right of municipalities to choose ranked balloting as their preferred voting method even after London, Ontario had already approved its use.
“We are urging all local elected officials in Ottawa and beyond to oppose this appalling power grab and allow local decision makers to do their own job.” Said Chaudhry. “Doug Ford needs to stop meddling in municipal affairs and focus on provincial-wide issues like our health and housing crises.”
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For Media Inquiries:
English
Tom Ledgley
613-663-7018
[email protected]
French
Sam Hersh
514-867-0799
[email protected]
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE: Horizon Ottawa Releases Donor Information from Osgoode By-election Candidates
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
09 June 2025
OTTAWA - Horizon Ottawa has released information about how candidates in the Osgoode by-election have financed their campaigns in an effort to improve transparency. The organization has consistently called on candidates to refuse contributions from the development industry based on the perception that this could create a conflict of interest when elected officials are tasked with decisions that would affect developer profits. The City of Ottawa already requires candidates to release a list of all donations over $100 following the election, but Horizon also stresses the importance of voters having access to this information before casting their ballot.
Of the eleven candidates registered in the by-election, Horizon was able to contact ten, six of whom responded to the request. Horizon’s findings can be seen in this chart:
Three candidates: Dalton Holloway, Jennifer van Koughnett, and Peter Westaway provided a list of their donors and were verified to have not received any funding from those connected to the development industry.
Greg Vail provided a list of donors and was found to have received two $100 contributions from donors who could be construed to be connected to the real estate development industry.
Isabelle Skalski and Dan O’Brien both claim to have received no developer-related funding, but did not disclose a list of their donors.
Doug Thompson, Colette Lacroix Velthuis, Guy Boone, and Bobby Gulati did not respond to Horizon’s request. While this does not necessarily mean that their campaigns were funded by developer-connected donors, Osgoode Ward residents will not have access to this information before selecting a councillor.
Horizon encourages each of these candidates to show voters that transparency matters to them and to make this information publicly available before election day on June 16th.
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For media inquiries:
English
Tom Ledgley
613-663-7018
French
Sam Hersh
613-663-7018
