The supervisors the Ford government appointed with direction to bring order and financial restraint to Ontario school boards are billing the province substantially different sums — with one charging almost $240,000 for six months of work.

New invoices obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws show a lack of uniformity in how supervisors appointed by Education Minister Paul Calandra are working and being compensated.

The documents cover roughly a six month period from late April to the end of October, offering an insight into the differing costs of the first period of school board supervision.

The government said the different fees and work schedules for supervisors were because their work is not “one-size-fits-all, and neither is the level of time required at each board.”

Supervisors sent in

Shortly after being appointed education minister last year, Calandra began to take direct control of some school boards.

The province sent a supervisor to the Thames Valley District School Board at the end of April, before appointing supervisors at four boards in Toronto, Ottawa and Peel Region at the end of June.

Under the agreement signed with the province, supervisors can bill up to 3.5 days per week at $2,000 per day. That caps to 50 weeks for a maximum of $350,000 per year.

Back in June, Calandra said he was dispatching the supervisors to bring stability to boards that had lost focus.

“Each of these boards has failed in its responsibilities to parents and students by losing sight of its core mission — ensuring student success,” Calandra said at the time in a statement.

“I will take action to restore focus, rebuild trust and put students first.”

But billing from the supervisors over their first few months in charge of the boards shows the five individuals appointed — including a former Progressive Conservative MPP — have approached the role vastly differently.

The four supervisors appointed at the same time in June, for example, have worked for different lengths of time since. One charged for 63.5 days, another for 55.25. One more bill was for 54 days, and the final supervisor charged for just 46.5.

Three of the five also appear to be completing the work through their companies and charging an extra 13 per cent in sales tax on top of their agreed rate, while two seem not to be adding tax to their invoices.

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While Calandra said supervisors would earn $350,000 per year, those billing HST could cost the government almost $400,000. They’re also eligible for thousands in expenses.

“I thought the supervisor meant $350,000 a year, and I feel like this is very similar to learning that it was $350,000 a year, plus a $40,000 expense account,” Ontario NDP MPP Chandra Pasma said.

“It seems like the minister’s first answer was very careful not to include all the details.”

The different approaches may be most pronounced in Toronto, where two supervisors were appointed to run the Catholic and public boards on the same day. Documents show they have worked vastly different schedules.

Between late June and the end of October, the supervisor at Toronto District School Board billed the taxpayer for 63.5 days at a base rate of $127,000, plus $16,510 in harmonized sales tax.

The Toronto Catholic supervisor, meanwhile, worked 46.5 days, which would equate to $93,000 in total, and didn’t add tax.

One critic suggested the discrepancy showed supervisors were a political play rather than a move to improve school boards.

“There’s no accountability in it; you can say one’s working harder than the other,” Ontario Liberal interim leader John Fraser said.

“This is all political cover, it’s shenanigans. The most identifiable commonality between all these supervisors are their Tory insiders. None of them have really any experience in education. It just further proves that this is a political exercise by the government to cover their tracks.”

Supervisors were appointed to the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board and Ottawa-Carleton at the same time as the Toronto boards and worked roughly 55 days each. The Peel Region supervisor didn’t charge HST, while Ottawa’s did.

A spokesperson for the Minister of Education said the varying days worked was a result of the different boards they had taken over.

“Supervisors are appointed to restore stability, accountability and sound governance at school boards facing serious financial or governance challenges,” they wrote in a statement.

“Some supervisors are working within boards that have stronger administrative capacity already in place, while other boards require significant, hands-on oversight to fix serious governance and financial issues.”

They did not address the issue of why some appeared to have charged HST on top of their rates.

The records also show the supervisor at Dufferin-Peel initially claimed 1,600 km for commuting to and from the job.

The government said that officials informed the supervisor that the claim could be made through expenses, but that it would be a relatively complicated process, and he withdrew the expense.

The supervisor at the Thames Valley District School Board, who was appointed almost two months before the Toronto supervisors, charged $100,000-plus more than any other supervisor.

He billed for 104.5 days between the end of April and the end of October. That would average roughly four days of work each week.

In total, the supervisor charged $209,000 over that period, plus another $27,170 in HST for a total of $236,170.

NEW YORK — The Democratic Party’s most ambitious politicians are courting African American activists in New York this week as the party’s unofficial 2028 presidential nomination contest takes shape at an annual conference led by Rev. Al Sharpton.

Up first was Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who warned that “everyone is less safe” because of President Donald Trump’s leadership and blamed him for a nationwide surge in antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism and bigotry.

“There’s more chaos, there’s more cruelty in our world,” Shapiro said. “Even if we disagree on health care policy or tax policy or whatever, we should at least, at a baseline, have an honorable president of the United States. We do not have that right now.”

The Democratic governor, already considered a top-tier 2028 presidential prospect with a clear path to reelection in his battleground state this year, delivered a scathing criticism of the Republican president on the opening day of the National Action Network’s four-day conference. More than a half-dozen potential candidates are speaking here to make inroads among Black leaders, one of Democrats’ most powerful voting blocs.

The presidential primary season won’t begin in earnest until after November’s midterm elections, but this week’s conference is showcasing a collection of Democrats already jockeying for position in what promises to be a crowded primary fight.

For now, at least, there is no clear early favorite.

“Everybody’s talking about who may run for president,” said Sharpton, the National Action Network’s founder and president. “I want to first know what their vision is now, and what they’re doing now. So I’ve invited all of the people that could run.”

In addition to Shapiro, the speaking program features Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Rep. Ro Khanna of California, and Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris, the last Democratic presidential nominee, is also scheduled to speak. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, another likely contender, won’t be in attendance because of a previously scheduled family commitment, his team said, noting that he met with Sharpton earlier in the year.

One doesn’t have to look far to see the outsized influence that Black voters wield in Democratic nomination contests.

In 2020, Buttigieg was a top vote-getter in the Iowa caucus and scored a strong second place in New Hampshire — both overwhelmingly white states — before Joe Biden dominated South Carolina on the strength of the Black vote.

Biden’s long-established relationship with the African American community, backed by his perceived electability advantage, ultimately helped him beat back a strong push by progressive favorite Sen. Bernie Sanders.

All of the 2028 prospects are quick to criticize Trump, although there is broad agreement that Democrats also need to highlight what they stand for — instead of solely what they’re against.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the conference.

Khanna, a Sanders ally who also addressed activists on Wednesday, told The Associated Press that progressive candidates in 2028 could make greater inroads with Black voters “by speaking to the Civil Rights tradition and offering a vision rooted in Black history.”

“A 2028 contender needs to articulate and run on a new moral vision for America,” Khanna said. Any presidential candidate’s platform, he added, “must be as much inspired by the greats of Douglass and King” — referring to abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. — while “offering a new vision for racial justice, economic justice, peace in the world, against militarism, against racism, against wealth inequality.”

Shapiro, who was a finalist in Harris’ search for a running mate in 2024, highlighted both his electability and his commitment to African American priorities while on stage.

He described Pennsylvania as “the ultimate swing state,” while defending diversity, equity and inclusion programs and insisting that police must be “held to account” if they do something wrong.

He also went after Trump again and again, suggesting that the looming midterm elections should be “a national referendum on Donald Trump and on what is happening in Washington, D.C.”

Ashley Sharpton, Rev. Sharpton’s youngest daughter, said she was surprised by the audience’s enthusiasm and engagement while Shapiro and Khanna were on stage on the conference’s first day. She said she’s looking forward to hearing from Moore, Harris and Buttigieg.

“That’s why people come,” she said. “They want to get some of that energy, that consistency, that base.”

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., is demanding that the Transportation Security Administration reintroduce its controversial policy requiring travelers to take off their shoes before going through airport security checkpoints.

Duckworth called on the TSA to immediately reverse its move to end the “shoes-off” policy, calling former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision last summer to scrap the policy a “reckless act” that may put travelers at risk.

“Secretary Noem’s decision to implement a shoes on policy on July 8, 2025, likely without meaningful consultation with TSA, was a reckless act,” Duckworth wrote in a letter to Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill.

“Allowing a potentially catastrophic security deficiency to remain in place for seven months and counting betrays TSA’s mission,” she added. “At a minimum, TSA’s failure to swiftly implement corrective action warrants the immediate withdrawal of Secretary Noem’s reckless and dangerous policy that increases the risk of a terrorist smuggling a dangerous item onto a flight.”

NEARLY 20-YEAR SHOE-OFF AIRPORT SECURITY POLICE IS ENDED BY TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Sen. Tammy Duckworth demanded that the TSA bring back its policy requiring travelers to take off their shoes to go through security checkpoints at airports. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

This comes after a classified watchdog report found that TSA scanners cannot effectively screen shoes, according to CBS News. Duckworth said the inspector general flagged the issue as urgent to Noem but that no action was taken.

Duckworth said that the inspector general found that Noem’s policy shift had “inadvertently created a new security vulnerability in the system.”

The former secretary’s failure to take corrective action after the report’s findings was “outrageous, unacceptable and dangerous to the flying public,” Duckworth said.

The senator argues that TSA’s lack of response may violate federal law, writing that the agency missed a legally required 90-day deadline to outline corrective actions after receiving the watchdog’s report.

“Such inaction violates Federal law, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance and DHS’s own directives,” Duckworth wrote.

FLIGHT PASSENGERS SLAM AIRLINES FOR PUSHING EARLY BAG CHECKS EVEN WITH EMPTY BINS ON BOARD

Sen. Tammy Duckworth called former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision last summer to scrap the policy a “reckless act” that may put travelers at risk. (Rebecca Blackwell / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

The previous policy requiring passengers to take off their shoes during TSA screening was implemented in 2006.

The senator wrote that Noem’s policy change reflected a “willingness to gamble the American people’s security,” calling it a “stunning failure of leadership.”

“We expect this change will drastically decrease passenger wait times at our TSA checkpoints, leading to a more pleasant and efficient passenger experience,” she said at the time. “As always, security remains our top priority. Thanks to our cutting-edge technological advancements and multi-layered security approach, we are confident we can implement this change while maintaining the highest security standards.”

Duckworth accused Noem, who was removed by President Donald Trump last month and replaced by current DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, of prioritizing politics over security.

The previous policy requiring passengers to take off their shoes to go through TSA screening was implemented in 2006. (iStock)

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The senator wrote that Noem’s policy change reflected a “willingness to gamble the American people’s security,” calling it a “stunning failure of leadership.”

“Secretary Noem’s willingness to gamble the American people’s security in an unsuccessful attempt to boost her popularity was, and remains, a stunning failure of leadership—particularly following President Trump’s decision to launch an unconstitutional war of choice against Iran that DHS has determined, “is causing a heightened threat environment in the United States,” she wrote.

The family of a B.C. boy with a rare neurodegenerative condition is calling on the government to help them access potential gene therapy treatment.

Navpreet and Stalin Gill told Global News that they began to notice their now three-year-old son, Gurmoh, having mobility issues around age one.

It wasn’t until he was about three that Gurmoh was diagnosed with Spastic Paraplegia Type 4, which causes stiffness and weakness in the legs.

Their five-year-old daughter does not have the condition and Gurmoh is believed to be the only case in Canada.

Stalin said it was devastating news.

“Having a child in your life is the best feeling,” he said. “And, you know, like having the worst diagnosis that you can think of, you know, when you receive it, it just kills you inside … it just breaks you. It’s terrible.”

Stalin said it has shattered them to know that their son is going to be in pain.

“When he was born, we were thinking about what’s going to happen when he’s going to be three, or when are we going to take him to Disney?” he said.

Stalin said that now the question is when they have to go to the hospital next.

“He’s not able to play with his peers, with similar age kids, because he cannot run that fast, he cannot walk, he stumbles, he falls down,” he added

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“And it’s a neurodegenerative disease. It’s progressive. So it’s not something that, oh, it stops. It just gets worse with every minute, every second, every day. It’s a suffering. It’s emotional suffering.”

Navpreet said that as parents, you have dreams for your child and you wonder what sport they might play or if they enjoy dancing or running, but she said that has all been taken from Gurmoh.

“The specific mutation that he has, it’s considered the most aggressive out of, you know, that category, and it’s considered to be more of a complex presentation,” she said.

“What that means is, in addition to the legs, he could end up losing the abilities in his arms, speech, mental capacity, so pretty much like it’s going to take everything away from him.”

2:01
Access to life-changing treatment

Stalin said they are now racing against time to get gene therapy, but they are being met with opposition at every turn.

They are also out thousands of dollars for tests, treatments and travel.

He said they have reached out to the B.C. government, which said they cannot help, so they reached out to the federal government.

A team of researchers at McGill University in Montreal has agreed to help treat this condition, as they have treated a similar condition, and to develop gene therapy.

But the cost is anticipated to be around $8 million.

The federal government does have a national strategy for drugs for rare diseases, where it has made “up to $1.4 billion in funding available to provinces and territories through three-year agreements, to help them provide better coverage and access to elected new drugs for rare diseases on the common list, other new and existing drugs for rare diseases and screening and diagnostics services.”

Global News has reached out to the federal government to find out more about the funding and how it’s being used.

“We’re fighting with the disease,” Stalin said. “We’re fighting with the system, you know, the system that should be supporting us, the system that should be spending money on developing these therapies, making it easier.”

He said it is hard to open up their lives and their struggles, but they want to help change the system.

“(We want) everybody to understand how difficult it is, for patients, for their families, for the grandparents, for their uncles, aunts,” Stalin added.

“It’s not us involved in this. It’s our whole friend circle, whole family, who’s helping us out with this. It’s terrible.”

The family has started a GoFundMe to try and raise money, which will go live on Friday, April 10.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Calgary city council has voted in favour of repealing citywide rezoning after weeks of public feedback and debate.

Council voted 12 to 3 in favour of repeal with councillors Nathaniel Schmidt, Myke Atkinson and Andrew Yule the sole votes against.

The vote comes after eight public hearing sessions over two weeks where 411 Calgarians addressed city council, and nearly 3,300 written submissions were also received.

“This vote was about restoring the voice in the community, understanding that change will continue to happen,” Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said following the vote. “But on a go forward, Calgarians will have more of their voices heard and respected through that process.”

The move means 306,774 residential properties across the city will be redesignated back to their original low-density residential districts.

Approved back in 2024 by the previous city council after the longest public hearing in city history, citywide rezoning made residential grade-oriented infill (R-CG) the default residential zoning district across the city.

It allowed a variety of housing types to be built on a single property, including rowhouses and townhouses.

“Blanket rezoning does not reduce the cost of building, it hasn’t sped up development timelines, it does not get homes built faster or cheaper,” said Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean in his debate. “What it has done, however, is divide communities.  It has created uncertainty, it has eroded trust and it’s attempted to fundamentally change the character of communities across our city.”

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Calgary city council wraps up citywide rezoning public hearing

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According to city administration, there have been 639 development permits enabled through citywide rezoning including 386 rowhomes, 41 single detached homes, and 53 semi detached homes.

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City data shows most of those permits, 165, were approved in Ward 7, followed by 86 in Ward 11, 83 in Ward 9 and 78 each in Wards 1, 4 and 6.

Wards 2, 3 and 12 had zero development permits enabled by citywide rezoning, according to city data.

“Too often we spoke of housing like it’s pollution, something that needs to be relegated to places that are less desirable and kept away from places we value now,” Schmidt said during the debate. “That’s not how we build a vision for the future and that’s not how we build communities.”

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot, who introduced the motion to repeal citywide rezoning, said council’s decision opens the door to a new plan to enable housing in growth in a more targeted way.

“Ultimately, we need to increase our intensity of use to make our city more affordable and more sustainable,” he told reporters. “We can’t just continue to grow out, we have to grow up as well so a made-in-Calgary solution, I think, is going to be the best path forward and that’s going to require a lot of work.”

Calgary’s mayor also ran on a platform to find a replacement for citywide rezoning.

Some city councillors expressed frustration the housing policy was being repealed without a replacement plan.

“I believe in good governance,” Atkinson said. “This wasn’t good governance. You don’t repeal and then figure something out later.”

After nearly two years of concerns around the impacts from citywide rezoning, the group Calgarians for Thoughtful Growth was encouraged that city council “really did listen” to the feedback from residents.

Chris Davis, a representative from the group, told reporters Wednesday that they recognize there needs to be meaningful planning work to get housing built.

“I don’t think any of us are so naive as to think we don’t have to respond positively and effectively to density, it was all about how we did it,” Davis said. “This is an opportunity now for all Calgarians to come together and work collaboratively to find solutions.”

Housing advocates like More Neighbours Calgary said there wasn’t much surprise by council’s vote, but there remains disappointment and concern over the impact the repeal will have on housing.

“We should be trying to build as much as we can… we should be letting the market meet the housing needs of Calgarians,” said the group’s co-founder Kathryn Davies. “We just seem committed to restraining that as we can.”

According to city administration, the changes and repeal won’t take effect until August.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

With the deadline to file taxes a week away, a record number of voters say their taxes are too high, according to the latest Fox News Poll. They are also bothered by the rich not paying their fair share and how the government uses their money. In addition, three-quarters feel government spending is wasteful — up almost 20 points since last year.

Last year, 57% said a great deal (44%) or almost all (13%) of government spending was inefficient; now that’s up 18 points, with 75% feeling that way (53% a great deal, 22% almost all).

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The increase in those thinking spending is wasteful is seen among most demographics, with the biggest bumps among Democrats and independents. Three-quarters of Republicans think government spending is wasteful, down from more than 8 in 10 in March 2025.

Voters are also down on how the Trump administration has handled identifying and cutting wasteful government spending, with nearly two-thirds, 64%, calling their efforts only fair (20%) or poor (44%), up from 56% last March (13% only fair, 43% poor).

While there is broad bipartisan agreement that a significant share of government spending is wasteful and inefficient — with roughly three-quarters of Democrats, Republicans, and independents saying so — a sharp partisan divide emerges on the Trump administration’s handling of identifying and cutting that waste: nearly all Democrats (90%) and a large majority of independents (80%) say it is not doing a good job, while 7-in-10 Republicans (69%) give it a positive rating.

A record 70% of voters think the taxes they pay are too high — up 11 points from last March and surpassing the previous high of 64% in March 2024. It also marks the largest year-over-year increase since the question was first asked in 2004, when 51% felt taxes were too high. A majority of voters have consistently said their tax burden is too much.

 FOX NEWS POLL: SOUR VOTERS SAY WASHINGTON IS OUT OF TOUCH

Compared to last year, groups showing the highest increase in concern over how much they are paying include voters with graduate degrees (+24 points since 2025), very liberal voters (+20), Democratic men (+19), moderates (+19), rural voters (+17), White voters without a college degree (+16), and women ages 45+ (+16).

What bothers people most about federal income taxes is the wealthy are not paying enough (38%), although that figure has dipped slightly from last year’s record high of 45%. Close behind is concern about how the government spends their tax dollars, up 3 points from a year ago to 29%.

Other irritations are the amount of taxes paid (14%), feeling too many people don’t pay enough (10%), and the complexity of the system (9%).

Democrats (57%) and independents (40%) are the most concerned about the rich not paying enough, while Republicans’ biggest issue is the amount the government uses (39%).

“The data show why Democrats persistently frame budget, spending, and tax policy questions as a matter of the rich paying their fair share,” says Republican Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News survey with Democrat Chris Anderson. “It’s one of the only ways the party is competitive on these issues given public skepticism about government performance.”

Disapproval of how President Trump is handling taxes has reached a record high of 64%, up 11 points from a year ago.

Dissatisfaction is up across the board, including among Democrats (+9 points disapproving since April 2025), independents (+14) and Republicans (+9).

One more thing…

AI use is on the rise, but not for tax prep.

Nearly 9 in 10 voters (87%) say they are not using AI to help with their taxes this year, while roughly 1 in 10 (13%) say they will or already have. Those most likely to say they will use AI are Republicans under age 45 (29%), voters under 30 (23%), Hispanic voters (21%), Black voters (20%), and employed voters (19%).

Conducted March 20-23, 2026, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,001 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (104) and cellphones (641) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (256). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education and area variables to ensure the demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis and voter file data.

The Ford government launched more than a dozen forensic audits over the last five years, Global News has confirmed, including several probes at the ministry responsible for the controversial skills development fund.

Forensic audits are detailed investigations into the financial records of service providers that receive funding from the Ontario government.

Run by the Treasury Board, they are typically triggered by red flags or anomalies and are used to verify financial accuracy or detect potential fraud.

In 2025, a forensic investigation into a company contracted by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities uncovered apparent “irregularities,” prompting the Ford government to refer the case to the OPP.

Now, a list obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws shows 19 forensic audits have been launched over the past five years across a range of ministries, suggesting wide-ranging concern with how taxpayer funds are being handled once they leave Queen’s Park.

The government did not respond to questions, including what triggered the audits and whether the findings had led to suspension of funding for companies or referrals to other authorities.

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the government should be learning the lessons from previous mistakes and putting in place guardrails for when companies and ministries face forensic audits.

“I think it’s good that government is doing due diligence; that’s very important,” she said. “My question would be, have these (audits) been flagged and is other money continuing to flow to those companies or to those organizations?”

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The details of the audits are scant. Officials shared a list of ministries, the number of audits, and the years they were conducted and the premier’s office did not respond to any questions.

Topping the list is the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, which has seen more forensic audits than any other department.

The record shows there were four audits involving the ministry’s vendors in 2024 and one in 2025.

That ministry is responsible for the skills development fund, a controversial training program, which a report from Ontario’s auditor general said was “not fair, transparent or accountable.”

The auditor general also found that the majority of applications selected were ranked low or medium by the Ministry of Labour and that more than 60 of the lower-scoring applicants were approved after hiring a lobbyist.

Last year, it was revealed that Keel Digital Solutions — one of the recipients of skills development funding — was under a forensic audit relating to a contract with another ministry.

Through 2024 and 2025, the company received millions in taxpayer money, even after “irregularities” were flagged. According to a statement of claim the government later filed against Keel, the forensic audit began in 2024.

“We’ve seen in the past, unfortunately, though, that when the government was conducting forensic audits, for example, into a couple of the skills development fund recipients, they did not flag those files,” Stiles added.

“And so other money was continuing to flow to those companies that were under forensic audit.”

Premier Doug Ford previously suggested the province always presumes innocence during audits.

“We cut off the funding as soon as we get the results,” Ford told reporters at Queen’s Park in the fall. “You don’t presume someone guilty right away. What you do is find out if there’s a problem with the money, then we’re the ones who go ahead and call in the OPP.”

Keel said that it has “complied with all laws and contract obligations” and expects to receive a “government apology at the end of this.” It is currently countersuing the provincial government, saying the audit process was “deeply flawed” and secretive.

After months of pressure from opposition parties, the integrity commissioner announced an investigation into the skills development fund last year and Labour Minister David Piccini.

The forensic audit list obtained by Global News shows there were also two investigations at the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, one in 2022 and another in 2024.

The only audit flagged so far in 2026 involved the Ministry of Health.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.