On Wednesday, Ontario’s legislative assembly voted to pass Bill 33, formally known as the Supporting Children and Students Act. The bill received royal assent the following day. 

The controversial bill will allow the government to more easily put school boards under investigation if Ontario’s Education Minister “has concerns about a matter of public interest.” This can include whether or not school boards and directors are “carrying out their duties under [Bill 33] in an appropriate manner.”

The bill also gives the Education Minister the “control and charge” of school boards if they do not comply with the minister’s direction, “or in certain other circumstances.” Critics of the bill have called it anti-democratic, as government oversight of school boards sidelines elected trustees. 

Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra indicated that he will be swift in using these new powers, saying to press on Wednesday, “I’ve made it very clear, from the very first day I took office, that I was not going to allow the system to stay the same, that I was going to do everything in my power to put school boards back on track.” 

The new bill will also impact police presence in schools, requiring school boards to work with their local police services to “provide them with access to school premises, permit them to participate in school programs and implement school resource officer programs.”

The bill includes changes to colleges of applied arts and technology, and publicly-assisted universities in how they assess applicants, requiring them to publish the criteria and processes for assessment into programs of study. In addition to this, the provincial cabinet will have the power to regulate the fees that these schools may charge students. 

In a statement last June, the Council of Ontario Universities said that the “proposed regulatory powers” of the bill, as it was drafted, “raise serious concerns for the postsecondary sector as it conflicts with governing legislation, increases administrative burdens, and fails to address the root causes of student access challenges.” Additionally, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario warned against the passage of Bill 33, one day ahead of the Bill’s passing. In a November 18 statement, they called the bill “nothing more than a hostile takeover of publicly funded education governance and a strategic attack on democracy, dressed up as modernization and accountability.”