I find this presentation very interesting. The member’s presentation didn’t really talk about the bill. It talked about everything but the bill. The bill is talking about accountability and transparency. That is very important for every board, especially around special education. Why wouldn’t you want to support transparency for monies being spent on special education?

When you talk about consultation that was not done, trustees voted on a code of conduct before COVID. We just hadn’t implemented it. There was already a survey for all trustees to put together a standardized code of conduct. That is what we are doing now.

I find it also interesting, that story you told about the child that went to school during COVID. That child would not have been able to go to school because the NDP didn’t want special education students in school during COVID. That you can very well see.

My question is, why don’t you want parents to have accountability? Why do you not want students to do better? Why do you not support the bill and talk about what is in the bill?

Thank you to the member for her presentation. I recognize her having been a trustee. I know she’s also been a part of OPSBA.

I’m going to read this. We’ve done three years of consultation with trustees where they had a survey and they voted on a standardized code of conduct, and I’m just going to read this piece. It says, “The minister should establish a minimum code of conduct for trustees, in consultation with trustees or their representative associations.” This was a quote from the member. That is exactly what we are doing. Does the member disagree with her own recommendation?

Questions?

The minister started out with a quote from the NDP government, made back, about the accountability for school boards.

We have a task force that was set up by the Liberals in 2009, which the member across the floor sat on, and the recommendations that came out of these are exactly the recommendations that are here: “The ministry should monitor the implementation of plans for improving student” success “and, where necessary, investigate and make further recommendations to bring the board into compliance with expectations for student achievement.” That is from the task force that the member across sat on.

Again, “The minister should establish a minimum code of conduct for trustees, in consultation with trustees or their representative associations.”

So my question to the member: Why do you disagree with these implementations?