{"id":228893,"date":"2025-09-15T14:15:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T14:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/228893\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T14:15:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T14:15:18","slug":"toronto-catholic-school-board-chair-ordered-to-return-taxpayer-purchased-electronics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/228893\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Catholic school board chair ordered to return taxpayer purchased electronics"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Ontario\u2019s Education Minister<\/a> considers eliminating select school board trustee positions<\/a> across the province, the government is zeroing in on the expenses of one elected official as a broader sign of school board dysfunction.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Shortly after the Ford government took over the Toronto Catholic District School board<\/a>, the provincial supervisor delved into seven years\u2019 worth of expenses of board chair Markus de Domenico, looking for potential discrepancies.<\/p>\n

What the supervisor found \u2013 roughly $90,000 in expenses over the seven-year period \u2013 has been offered by the government, has an example of why trustees require additional scrutiny by Queen\u2019s Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s symptomatic of a larger problem in the system, that any dollar that is spent outside of the class is a dollar not going to help a student achieve,\u201d Calandra told Global News. \u201cSome of the things that we found have been obviously hugely surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Examples include the $15 spent on a milkshake<\/a>, the purchase of five TV wallmounts and a payment of $145 for an Apple watch band.<\/p>\n

Calandra, whose office asked for the interview to be conducted in de Dominico\u2019s office at the TCDSB headquarters at Yonge and Sheppard, also pointed to the five television wall mounts and questioned where they went.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, you\u2019re in his office, do you see five TVs hanging on the walls here? No, so what do you need five TV wall amounts?\u201d Calandra said. \u201cYou don\u2019t get in it to get rich, 100 percent, but you don\u2019t get in and to also offset your lifestyle either.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Calandra issued a letter to de Dominico with an itemized list of 61 items asking him to return $6,700 worth of items \u201cpurchased with taxpayers\u2019 dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cAny of the resources that you used as a trustee in supervised boards, we want that back,\u201d Calandra said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s iPads, chargers, phones, that should all be returned to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, de Dominico told Global News that \u201call expenses are vetted by staff\u201d and suggested the government is deliberately targeting him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ministry continues to personally attack me in order to silence me from doing what I have always done; speaking out for students, families, and our most vulnerable special education kids who have been so poorly served by the ministry,\u201d de Dominico told Global News.<\/p>\n

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The TDCSB chair also added that he has already had conversations with the provincially appointed supervisor to return board-supplied electronics, will purchase a laptop from the board and is willing to return \u201cwhatever they feel is appropriate\u201d in an effort to return the focus on special education funding.<\/p>\n

While the ministry now looks at possibly curtailing the responsibilities of some trustees and eliminating other positions entirely, Calandra wouldn\u2019t say how much the province could save as a result.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not looking to save anything. I\u2019m looking to redirect,\u201d the minister said. \u201cIf this is a part-time job, which it is supposed to be, then it should be treated as a part time job with a very focused mission and mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calandra, meanwhile, is facing equal criticism<\/a> over his own expenses a member of cabinet and provincial parliament.<\/p>\n

A news release issued by the Toronto and York Region Labour Council on Thursday, quoting trustees, went after Calandra\u2019s expenses, accusing him of hypocrisy.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinister Paul Calandra likely receives $40,000 a year for a constituency office and is expensing tens of thousands to taxpayers for food, hotels and events,\u201d Rizzo said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy fellow trustees and I don\u2019t have a constituency office \u2014 it\u2019s the local Tim Horton\u2019s. The cost of our offices is a coffee or a milkshake for a constituent. It\u2019s unbelievably hypocritical to call $15 expense questionable when the Minister is spending thousands on strawberry pancakes and BBQs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The minister\u2019s office said it was \u201claughable\u201d to compare the expenses of part-time school board trustees to those of a minister, pointing out the pancake events and BBQs were free for anyone in the riding to attend and are designed to connect with residents.<\/p>\n

The expense for a \u201cStrawberry Festival Pancake Breakfast\u201d refers to an event hosted by Calandra, the local mayor and two members of parliament, his office said.<\/p>\n

The funds MPPs are allowed to claim are strictly governed and generally relate to accommodation near Queen\u2019s Park during debates, hosting events to connect with constituents or travel to and from the legislature.<\/p>\n

Last year, Calandra tallied $54,142 in office rent, according to staff and office expense disclosures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Ontario\u2019s Education Minister considers eliminating select school board trustee positions across the province, the government is zeroing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":228894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2147,50,18404,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-228893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-ontario-politics","11":"tag-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115208737720556743","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}