GMCDI In the News

Anglos Could Use School-Board Elections As Public Platform
English-Speaking Quebec Needs Direction, And Boards Could Fill That Void

The Gazette
Henry Aubin

Saturday, September 22, 2007

This week's report on the state of the Montreal region's English-speaking communities notes a "disquieting trend toward political disengagement" among anglophones. The report by the Greater Montreal Community Development Initiative says this means "the visibility and voice of English-speaking Montreal are weak."

How true. But how can anglo Montreal - and, for that matter, anglo Quebec as a whole - start reversing this passivity?
This fall happens to provide an ideal opportunity.

Tuesday through Sunday of next week is the time for candidates in November's school-board elections to throw their hats into the ring, according to the rules of Quebec's Directeur générale des élections.

"Oh, gawd," you're thinking, "what do school boards have to do with anything outside school?" That's the traditional view. It explains why only 14 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots in the last elections of Quebec's English boards (and why on the French side the figures was even punier, eight per cent).

But now might be the time for anglos to rethink the role of their two boards on Montreal Island and of their seven boards elsewhere in the province. If anglos are to overcome their feeble political profile, the boards could be part of the solution.

The boards might now deal largely with leaky roofs, pedagogy and school closings. But they don't have to stay that way.

As Marcus Tabachnick, head of the Quebec English School Board Association, noted this week, school boards are the only level of government exclusively elected by anglos. "What do people want from the boards?" he asked, inviting public debate. "Should our role be broader than education?"

The report of the Greater Montreal Community Development Initiative would answer in the affirmative. This federally funded project of the grassroots Quebec Community Groups Network recommends that English Quebecers form a "network of political leaders" hailing from school boards, community groups and the municipal, provincial and federal levels of government. These leaders would "work together ... outside of their organizations' specific mandates to address critical cross-cutting community development issues."

But, if they are to succeed in this wider role, school boards will need to attract talented candidates in the coming election.

Which brings me to my sales pitch. If you're vaguely interested in civic involvement but don't know much about the boards, here's what you need to know.

Let's start with the cons.

Admittedly, the pay stinks. It ranges from $3,000 to $9,000, depending on the level of duties.

Also, there's little glory. Anglo politicians have found that to be effective in dealing with other levels of government you don't call attention to your cause. If you do, then certain opinion leaders in this city, their heads stuck in the 1970s, will hammer you as a crybaby from "Canada's most pampered minority."

Now the pluses.

It doesn't cost much to run. Quebec pays for the first $2,700 in expenses. Your maximum additional out-pocket costs vary according to your ward's number of eligible voters, but they seldom add up to more than a few hundred dollars.

Competition is seldom fierce. The island's two boards, English Montreal School Board and Lester B. Pearson School Board, usually see no more than two candidates vying for the same seat. Elsewhere in Quebec, acclamations have been common.

Candidates for English boards, unlike for some French ones, don't have to mess with parties (although the EMSB has informal factions). No grovelling to political machines.

A board can be a stepping stone to higher office. Local MNAs Jacques Chagnon and François Ouimet, for example, came from French boards. True, the last anglo board member to become an MNA was Joan Dougherty in 1981, yet nothing would keep anglo boards from replacing the defunct Alliance Quebec as an MNA seedbed.

But the main selling point for running for a seat is this: Anglo Quebec sorely needs direction, and its nine boards could play an expanded role in providing it. For that to happen, however, strong candidates need to file their nomination papers next week. And voters need to give the boards strong mandates by turning out in droves on Nov. 4.

haubin@thegazette.canwest.com

© The Gazette (Montreal) 2007