No chalk, all stick: Calandra cracks down

Wooing the North

ABOVE THE FOLD

PAUL CALANDRA is taking a tough approach to his new gig as Education Minister.

Case in point (and then some): The province is taking control of one school board after reports of financial mismanagement, investigating three other boards — including the country’s biggest — over spending concerns, and demanding another board repay the costs for that infamous trip to Italy to buy art.

“Some school boards treat hard earned tax dollars like their own, spending them on luxury hotels, fine dining and first-class travel overseas, and booking extravagant retreats for meetings while accepting test results that in some cases show students struggling,” the minister said. “It is beyond comprehension and just shows how out of touch some of the board executives have become with the real needs of the people of Ontario.” The Canadian Press has the details.

It appears to be a harsher stance than the one taken by Calandra’s predecessor and now-Energy and Mines Minister STEPHEN LECCE, who ha…