Education minister tables bill to fire Catholic school board trustee who failed to pay back Italy trip expenses

Paul Calandra introduced a bill to fire the trustee who never repaid school board for a pricey trip to Italy. CTV’s Krista Simpson reports.

Education Minister Paul Calandra tabled a bill Monday to fire a trustee with the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board who never repaid his portion of a pricey trip to Italy.

In July 2024, four trustees flew overseas to buy religious artwork for two new schools.

The cost of the trip totaled nearly $190,000.

The Ministry of Education later ordered a review of the school board and the trip. It found that Richard Petrella, Dan Dignard, William Chopp and Mark Watson spent money on luxury cars, high-end hotel stays and fancy dinners at a Michelin star restaurant.

All four of the trustees agreed to cover their own expenses. Petrella, Dignard and Chopp owed $12,666, while Watson owed $12,370.

On April 23, 2025, Calandra ordered the trustees to pay back their travel expenses — in full — within 30 days.

The education minister confirmed three of the trustees had done so by his deadline. The one holdout was Watson, the minister said.

“I have a fourth trustee who has decided that he’s not going to pay it back,” he said in an interview with Newstalk 1010 in May. “He’s paid 2,000 bucks of the [$12,000], and he’s decided, ‘Hmm, that’s enough.’”

Calandra also announced his plan to introduce legislation to fire Watson.

It’s a promise he upheld during Monday’s legislative session at Queen’s Park.

“The bill really is quite a simple one,” Calandra explained.

“It would, for all intents and purposes, fire the trustee who, along with a couple of other colleagues, went to Italy between July 8, 2024 and July 15, 2024 [and] spent thousands of dollars and, so doing so, that was money that was taken out of the classroom. Taken away from students,” he said.

“The trustee named is refusing to pay back the money that he spent on, for all intents and purposes, what is a vacation. And this bill, really quite simple, would fire that trustee for refusing to pay back the money that he owes to parents, students and teachers. Thank you.”

The education minister also released a statement shortly after the bill was introduced.

It said, in part: “Despite clear expectations communicated to the trustee and a repayment deadline set out in April, one of the four Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board trustees has failed to reimburse taxpayers for his share of a trip to Italy that amounted to approximately $50,000 in travel costs, an expense that was both excessive and unjustifiable.

“Today, I introduced legislation that, if passed, would remove the trustee from Haldimand County from office and bar him from running for a trustee position in any school board in the 2026 municipal elections. He will be ineligible to fill a trustee vacancy on any Ontario school board until after November 14, 2030,” he continued.

“If the trustee is unwilling to meet the basic standards of accountability, then he should no longer hold a position of public responsibility. This is about putting students first, something this trustee has failed to do.”

The Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board shared the following statement, on behalf of board chair Carol Luciani: “As with all provincial legislation, the board will continue to fully cooperate with all requirements set out by the Ministry of Education and applicable directives.”

CTV News also reached out to Watson for comment, but he did not respond by the deadline.

The introduction of legislation to fire a trustee is an unusual step, according to a university professor.

“When there are issues related to the school board, because it is a democratic governance on a local level, it’s usually handled with sanctions within the school board,” explained Kristina Llewellyn, a professor at the Wilson College of Leadership & Civic Engagement at McMaster University.

“To my knowledge, I don’t know of other legislation in which there was the firing of a trustee. There has been the removal of a director of education, for example, that happened in Peel [Region] and other people who have worked on the school board level or within Ministry of Education portfolios. But this kind of firing of a trustee seems quite extraordinary.”

Llewellyn also pointed to the provincial government’s continued efforts to overhaul the system and give the Ministry of Education greater power over school boards. They have even suggested doing away with trustees altogether.

Llewellyn described Calandra’s legislation as a “warning shot” to school boards.

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With reporting by Krista Simpson