“The school elections were completely destroyed”

by time news

Voters on Sunday chose who will represent them on their school boards, a gesture that the majority of Quebecers can no longer do since most of the elected school officials have given way to boards of directors. Several candidates were elected without opposition and in two English-language school boards, the participation rate melted.


Marie-Eve Morasse

Marie-Eve Morasse
Press

“The school elections were completely destroyed by the policies of the Government of Quebec. Normally you get at least 20% participation rate. [Dimanche], we only got 10%. ”

School commissioner at the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) elected on Sunday for the third time, Julien Feldman shoots red balls on the “undemocratic” government which, he says, is doing everything to reduce the turnout in the elections.

PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS

Julien Feldman, elected from the English-Montreal school board

The refusal of Quebec to hold the school elections on the same date as the municipal elections is one of these “techniques of suppression of the vote”, estimates Mr. Feldman.

Relations are strained between Quebec and the EMSB. Earlier this month, the school board released a controversial document denying that Quebec forms a nation. She later admitted an “error”. Meanwhile, François Legault had said that the school board was “a radical group”.

“We are not radicals, we are democrats,” retorts Julien Feldman.

3.27% north of Montreal

The participation rate is even more starved at the Sir Wilfrid Laurier school board, north of Montreal. Only 3.27% of voters used their right to vote. In 2014, the participation rate was almost 15%.

Elected for a second term as President of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board, Paolo Galati nevertheless recalls in an interview the principle of “no taxation without representation”. The nine school commissioners who surround him were elected without opposition.

The pandemic has discouraged potential candidates from running, believes Paolo Galati, who adds that the democratic exercise remains intact. “The choice is there: there are people who can present themselves,” he says.

On Sunday, only three seats were put to popular vote in English-language school boards, with the other candidates being elected by acclamation.

“Centralization” among Francophones

Francophone school boards were abolished in February 2020, just before COVID-19 overshadowed any other subject in the public space.

School service centers now have a 15-member board of directors composed equally of parents, school staff and community representatives. They are volunteers.

At the Montreal School Service Center, tensions led to the resignation of several members of the board of directors, so that the service center had to be placed under supervision last June.

A sounding made by Press from all the school service centers shows that in most of them, resignations of members have been rare since the change of governance.

Still, the disappearance of elected officials has led to “much greater centralization,” says Jean Bernatchez, professor of education at the University of Quebec in Rimouski.

There is no longer anyone in the school service centers expressing themselves in the public space. The directors general would be authorized to do it, but they absolutely do not do it, because they have a duty of loyalty towards their employer, towards the Minister of Education.

Jean Bernatchez, professor of education at the University of Quebec at Rimouski

Have francophones lost in exchange with the disappearance of their elected school officials? “Oh yes,” said Paolo Galati, president of the Sir Wilfrid Laurier school board. He cites as an example the purchase of air purifiers, which several English-speaking school boards have acquired without waiting for Quebec’s approval.

“We made this decision through the Council of Commissioners. People from the service centers called me to tell me that they were jealous, they couldn’t do it, ”says Mr. Galati.

Jean Bernatchez sat for a few months on the board of directors of a school service center. He says he had the impression of participating very little in the decision-making.

“It was things that were all tied up and, in 99.9% of the cases, the directors have no choice but to say yes, because it is prepared by people who know their business and who have a certain expertise, ”he says.

He nevertheless believes that it is premature to pass judgment on the new school governance.

“The old system was relatively inefficient, the new system is neither, but there are people who feel that they have lost some form of influence. I don’t think we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. Some things can be interesting, others are much less, ”says Bernatchez.

With William Leclerc, Press

In numbers

16,88 %

Participation rate in the November 2014 elections in English school boards

Source: Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec

45,5 millions

Sum that the Coalition futur Quebec estimated to save in four years with the abolition of school elections and paid positions of elected officials

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