Trustee candidate calls on province to investigate election

A trustee candidate alleges the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board meddled in the municipal election — and he is calling on the province to investigate.

Eric Renaud, an advocate for merging the public and catholic school boards, was running to become the Catholic School Board trustee for Wards 3 and 4, but lost by more than 400 votes.

He says part of the reason for his loss was a letter sent by the Catholic school board the day before the election, asking voters to "speak up" to keep publicly-funded Catholic education.

"They are clearly targeting candidates who want to merge those two boards," he said, adding that the letters could be found in churches all around Windsor.

Calling for an investigation

He is now calling on the Minister of Education and the Minister of Municipal Affairs to investigate. 

"I'm basically asking for the province to actually look into the actions of the school board for potential misuse of taxpayers' money, as well as meddling in the last election."

Chuck Scarpelli, the manager of records and elections with the City of Windsor, confirmed he received an investigation request from Renaud and that he has asked the Ministry of Municipal Affairs for direction. 

In an email to CBC, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing said municipal clerks are the ones responsible for running local elections. 

"Should an elector or candidate have questions or concerns regarding their local election, they may wish to contact the municipal clerk. If they have a legal question, they may wish to contact a lawyer."

CBC put in a request in to the Ministry of Education but has not yet heard back.

Barbara Holland, chair of the board, denies that the Catholic board was trying to meddle in the election.

She has told CBC that the election cycle invites debate and the letter was just a way of allowing that to take place.