Send us a text

As of today, the Ford government has taken control of six school boards across the province — using words like “incompetence,” “mess” and “off the rails” to describe how things were going before the province seized the wheel.

The passage of Bill 33, which came into force in November, made it even easier for Ontario to intervene. The Near North District School Board learned that lesson the hard way on Dec. 1.

Now that we’ve reached 2026, an even bigger question looms: Will the Ford government scrap school trustees altogether?

Education Minister Paul Calandra has made it clear he's exploring the possibility — and that he's seen nothing so far to convince him his ministry’s $43-billion budget needs to be delivered by trustees.

He promised to reach a decision by early this year. The clock is ticking.

Joining us tonight on Village Media’s Closer Look podcast is our education expert at Queen’s Park: Sneh Duggal, the deputy editor of The Trillium.

Hosted by Village Media’s Michael Friscolanti and Scott Sexsmith, and produced by Derek Turner, Closer Look is a new daily podcast that goes way beyond the headlines with insightful, in-depth conversations featuring our reporters and editors, leading experts, key stakeholders and big newsmakers.

Fresh episodes drop every Monday to Friday at 7 p.m. right in your local news feed — and on the show’s dedicated website: closerlookpodcast.ca. Of course, you can also find us wherever you get your favourite podcasts.

Want to be the first to know when a new episode lands? Sign up for our free nightly newsletter, which delivers the latest Closer Look straight to your email inbox. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel or follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

Have something to say? Please reach out. Our email address is closerlook@villagemedia.ca.