CAQ government on 'concerted campaign to discredit' EMSB for 'political reasons,' board alleges

EMSB has fighting words for CAQ government The English Montreal School Board says the Legault government is on a campaign to smear and discredit the board

MONTREAL – The English Montreal School Board (EMSB) on Monday accused the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government of leaking an excerpt from a Ministry of Education report on the board's spending as part of a "concerted campaign to discredit" the board for "political reasons."

The EMSB also accuses the government of leaking the document to Le Journal de Montréal to coincide with the start of hearings in Quebec City on the government's controversial plans to reform school boards.

"Even though the minister has had this report since early September and has released its conclusions and recommendations, neither he nor his investigators have shared it with the EMSB," the board said in a statement Monday afternoon.

"The school board has never had the opportunity to review the allegations, nor to provide feedback and context."

The board calls the alleged leak to Le Journal "nothing more than a petty attempt to malign the EMSB," and called on the minister of education to release the complete report to the EMSB.

It said it wants CAQ government officials to "conduct themselves responsibly and to abandon their short-sighted politically-motivated agenda in favour of a fair and transparent process."

According to a report Monday by Le Journal de Montréal, the EMSB spent money on questionable items such as a jewelry, alcohol and expensive travel.

Quebec Education Minister Jean-François Roberge is reportedly looking into the possibility that the school board mismanaged expenses from its $350 million budget.

The newspaper reports that between August 2016 and June 2018, there was wine-a-plenty at several EMSB commissioner meetings, totalling hundreds of dollars.

Another claim is that employees who retired were gifted expensive pieces of jewelry, such as a $400 Swarovski watch and more than $1,000 worth of chocolate.

School officials also reportedly reimbursed for travel expenses between their homes and the office – an unjustified $5,000 expense, according to investigators.

In addition, Le Journal reports that EMSB representatives who attended a conference in Boston in November 2017 stayed at a luxury hotel, costing almost $12,000.

The ministry’s findings, as well as the verdict, are expected to be revealed “shortly.”

When asked about the issue on Monday, Premier François Legault would not say if the province would take over trusteeship of the board.

"The problems are accumulating and we're looking at that," he said. "We may decide in the next few days about the situation of the school board, but it's unacceptable what we keep on hearing about what they do."

Russell Copeman, executive director of the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) said he was suspicious of the timing of the Journal de Montréal's story.

"[The timing of the report is] more than suspect. It's a story based on anonymous sources. The report's not there. One might almost be inclined to say in French 'un job de bras,'" Copeman said.

Already in trouble?

This comes just one month after La Presse obtained an unpublished report from the Quebec Treasury Board that revealed the school board routinely broke the rules when awarding contracts.

According to the report, $44 million worth of contracts were awarded between 2017 and 2018 without following proper procedure.

The board allegedly split up its contracts to look like they were worth less than $25,000 in order to not adhere to the public call for tenders rule. Once awarded, the contracts were supposedly modified.

The board has repeatedly denied handing out any illegal contracts.

-- with files from CTV News Montreal's Stephane Giroux.