Paul Calandra, Ontario’s Minister of Education, introduced a bill aimed at vacating the seat of a Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board trustee on Monday, October 20, 2025.
In July 2024, four trustees took a roughly $50,000 trip to Italy where they purchased $100,000 worth of religious art for two schools.
This past April, the Ministry of Education ordered the four trustees to pay back their travel expenses. Richard Petrella, Dan Dignard and William Chopp were each required to repay $12,666, while Mark Watson agreed to pay $12,370.
As mentioned in the preamble of Calandra’s bill, Petrella, Dignard and Chopp have since paid their shares in full, “however, the specified member has repeatedly refused to pay the full amount of $12,370.”
If passed, the legislation would remove Watson from office and bar him from running for a trustee position in any school board in the 2026 municipal elections. He would also be ineligible to fill a trustee vacancy on any Ontario school board until after November 14, 2030.
“My focus as Minister of Education is to ensure that every dollar invested is preparing students with practical skills for good-paying, stable careers,” said Calandra in a statement. “Every decision I make, every dollar our government spends, must support better outcomes for students and give teachers the tools they need to help them succeed. We expect every school board to direct resources to the classroom, not on luxury trips and wasteful spending.”
Calandra went on to say that the Italy trip was both excessive and unjustifiable, and that the trustee’s refusal to repay what he owes to the taxpayers is exactly why the ministry “is reviewing Ontario’s school board governance model, because too often trustees lose sight of their responsibility to students.”
“…If the trustee is unwilling to meet the basic standards of accountability, then he should no longer hold a position of public responsibility,” continued Calandra. “This is about putting students first, something this trustee has failed to do.”
According to a report shared by the ministry earlier this year, as of March 6, 2025, Watson had repaid just over $1,200 of his total amount owed, and had agreed to make payments until May 2028. There is no current update to what he has paid since then.
In an email to the Brant Beacon, Tracey Austin, Manager of Communications and Community Relations for the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board, said that staff is aware of the bill and has shared it with the board.
“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,” said Carol Luciani, Chair of the Board.
The Brant Beacon reached out to Mark Watson for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
