Kathleen Wynne Needs To Answer For Her Lawsuit, Canada, Ontario, school board

TORONTO – Yesterday, court documents from a lawsuit filed against the Province of Ontario by independent bus operators were made public, exposing how frontline dollars are being diverted to cover expensive lawyer fees.

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In 2008, Kathleen Wynne as Minister of Education decided to change the system in which contracts are awarded to bus companies. The system was changed to a blanket RFP process, ignoring the advice of Deloitte and the Auditor General. “Decisions made by Kathleen Wynne as Minister of Education led to this lawsuit and the closing of several independent bus operators,” said Ontario PC Candidate, Christine Elliott. “Now, the province is facing another costly lawsuit as a result of her actions.”

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A moratorium was instituted after a sizable backlash from the independent bus drivers and a task force was appointed to study the process. The court documents show that Kathleen Wynne never intended to follow the advice of the task force and move forward, ignoring the advice of experts. “The documents show that Kathleen Wynne broke her own promise of a moratorium, which led to 3 small bus operators being wiped out completely and 2 others losing all but 1 contract.” said Elliott The school boards were told that they had to use the new RFP process or face funding claw backs from the province. The documents also show that the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals are using frontline education funds from the Ministry of Education to fight this lawsuit. “These funds were supposed to be allocated for Aboriginal education, autism supports and training, school mental health strategies, and special mathematics instruction, but instead, they are going to fight a lawsuit against independent bus operators,” said Christine Elliott. The question for Kathleen Wynne is what frontline services are being affected? Which students are now at risk because of Kathleen Wynne’s actions? Backgrounder-Wynnes Legal Battle (PDF)

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