Trustee candidate alleges Catholic board meddled in election

An official with the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board says they had every right to release a letter one day before the municipal election, which asked voters to "speak up" to keep publicly-funded Catholic education.

"We believe that publicly-funded Catholic education is viable and relevant for those families who want all of the virtues associated with faith-based learning for their children," the letter reads.

"If you agree, we hope that you'll voice your support for Catholic education on October 22nd."

But for candidate Eric Renaud — who was running to become trustee for Wards 3 and 4 — the letter demonstrates the Catholic school board's attempt to meddle in the election. He is an advocate for merging the public and Catholic school boards.

Renaud said the letter, which ended in Renaud losing by more than 400 votes, "definitely" skewed the numbers.

"Back in the summer, I actually [sent] a survey to Catholic school board houses ... That survey went out to 6,000 houses. I got back 600 of them and between 70 and 79 per cent of Catholic school board houses who actually got the survey actually supported this idea," said Renaud.

Letter invites debate, says Catholic board

However, for Barbara Holland, chair of the board, the election cycle invites debate and the letter is just a way of allowing that to take place.

"I think the fact that there were candidates that expressed that they needed to eliminate the Catholic school system — that's one side of the story," she said.

"I think that the other side gets to say, 'Here's what we do. This is how we do it.' And then you let the voter decide."

Holland denied that the Catholic board was trying to meddle in the election and disagrees with Renaud's notion that the letter is effectively telling people who to vote for.

"It is simply providing another option for voters," said Holland.

"Don't we want the voter to hear both sides of an issue and then have that information so when they do go to the polls, they can consider both and then make the appropriate vote, and in this case, they did."

Renaud advocated for the merger of both boards alongside Alan Halberstadt, who retained his seat as public school board trustee in Wards 3, 4 and 10 after the municipal election.

Halberstadt was outvoted by Sarah Cipkar, but will remain as a trustee in the upcoming term because the position is given to the two people with the first and second-most number of ballots.