Maggie Macintosh
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Winnipeg Free Press
Retired school trustees are leading a new campaign for legislative change so their successors cannot draw their own ward boundaries and must disclose the names of donors who contribute to hyperlocal races across Manitoba.
Just Elections’ self-imposed mandate is to promote free and fair school board contests in all 38 divisions in the province and protect them from “interference.”
Among its demands, the coalition wants to introduce contestant spending limits, ban out-of-province residents and corporate, organization and union donations and ensure anyone who violates reporting rules be penalized.
Its members say an independent review commission must be established to assess school ward boundaries every 10 years.
“When I hear the fact that there are outside people trying to interfere with the democracy of elections of school board trustees… It makes my blood boil,” said Kathy Mallett, co-chair of the non-partisan group made up primarily of inner-city leaders and community organizations.
It’s unacceptable that Manitoba has no rules on trustee fundraising, said Mallett, who represented West End families on the Winnipeg School Division’s board of trustees in the early ’90s.
Unlike candidates for municipal, provincial and federal office, trustee hopefuls do not have to file audited financial statements or follow financing laws. In the past, individual contestants and organizations, such as the Winnipeg Labour Council, have voluntarily shared endorsements at their discretion.
The status quo came into question in October 2022 when a number of candidates launched well-funded campaigns with similar professional websites, social media posts and email templates.
The apparent co-ordination of campaigns in WSD sparked intrigue among voters and veteran board members — many of whom have historically mounted self-funded bids or sought small donations from friends, neighbours and family members.
The Free Press learned Walter Schroeder, a Toronto philanthropist whose foundation has donated millions to local kindergarten-to-Grade 12 projects, was privately sponsoring trustee candidates.
None of the incumbents in the last election said they had received financial support from Schroeder, whose controversial proposal to pay for the reinstatement of its police-in-schools program was rejected by the 2018-22 iteration of the board.
Following the election, the Manitoba Liberals tabled a private member’s bill to introduce oversight for trustee campaign donors and expenses. It wasn’t passed by the legislature.
A scan of provincial school board financing rules conducted by Just Elections shows Manitoba is an outlier. Alberta requires public disclosures of contributions of $50 or more while Ontario prohibits donations that exceed $1,200, per the coalition’s analysis.
The Manitoba government’s latest throne speech hinted at incoming legislation to “protect our elections and democracy from third-party and foreign interference” and changes to the next round of school board races.
A spokesperson for Education Minister Tracy Schmidt indicated work is underway, but it is “very early days.” More information will be revealed in the coming months, Schmidt’s office said.
Former trustee Liz Ambrose recalled being overwhelmed by the sheer size of wards in WSD — at the time, hers was larger than a federal riding — when she first ran for a seat on its board more than 30 years ago.
She said she was also taken aback by the few campaign requirements for contestants.
“I was quite shocked that I didn’t have to report (my finances) to anybody. I kept my little ledger book for years,” said the co-chair of Just Elections.
Ambrose said she’s long chalked up the lack of transparency to there being little public awareness, care or understanding about trustee roles and responsibilities; she credits her initial win in 1995 to her last name beginning with an A and so being listed at the top of ballots.
Given organized entities’ growing attempts to influence school boards both in Canada and south of the border, she said it’s “high time” that rules be introduced and the province stop allowing trustees to set ward boundaries as they please.
Just Elections documents categorize the latter as a conflict of interest.
The group’s formal presentation suggests an independent commission that looks at electoral boundary changes would be “a proactive way to address issues of equity and representation in the governance of our public school board.”
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
