Pair of COVID restriction protestors running for school trustee
Some COVID-19 restriction protestors are trying to get into power at the school board level.
Attending and organizing rallies against pandemic health restrictions landed Todd McDougall and Patrick Allard thousands of dollars worth of fines - fines they are appealing.
Their views against COVID measures also include ones imposed on students and teachers. Now they are running for office at the school level.
“So many teachers out there who were forced to receive a vaccine against their will," said Allard.
“All of it I think was very, very poor decision-making," said McDougall.
McDougall and Allard are running for school trustee positions. Both say they are running to bring more community voices to the school board level. They believe masks, vaccine mandates, and student cohorts, all put in place to prevent the spread of the virus, did more harm than good.
"I think a lot of the harm that was able to be done is because school boards are just a bunch of yes-men," said McDougall.
"Why did we need school boards in the last two years when they did nothing different than what the government was telling them to do," said Allard.
Former superintendent and U of M Faculty of Education Dean John Wiens says single-issue or anti-government candidates don't always work well in a board setting.
"Single-issue people have a tough time on boards because they actually have no individual voice other than the collective of the board," said Wiens.
Allard and McDougall insist they are not single-issue candidates. They both have children and McDougall says he's worked in child care for 13 years and decided to run to prevent acclamations in his ward.
“This is nothing that I'm coming at because I've already been in some local spotlight over here a moment ago, it really is nothing like that," said McDougall.
Allard, who ran in the Fort Whyte by-election this year, says he wants to improve how money is spent and see more recreation in schools. But he still thinks about pandemic restrictions.
“Although I'm not a one-issue candidate, this is definitely something top of mind. I will never have this happen again to children,” said Allard.
McDougall is running in ward two in the Pembina Trails School Division, and Allard is vying for a spot in ward eight in the Winnipeg School Division.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Air turbulence: When can it become dangerous?
Flight turbulence like that encountered by a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday is extremely common, but there's one aspect of severe turbulence an aviation expert says can lead to serious injury.
B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton hospitalized after prison attack
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton sustained life-threatening injuries in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
WATCH Why today's inflation numbers are good if you have a mortgage
New inflation data is 'welcome news' for consumers and an economist says it could signal the possibility for a interest rate cut as several core measures also continue to ease.
Conservatives kick off return to House with new call for Speaker Greg Fergus to resign
Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives returned to the House of Commons on Tuesday with a renewed call for Speaker Greg Fergus to resign, this time over 'very partisan' and 'inflammatory' language used to promote an upcoming event.
opinion Tom Mulcair: With Trudeau spiralling, Mark Carney waits in the wings
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, former NDP leader Tom Mulcair argues that if there's an unofficial frontrunner in the eventual race to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, it has to be former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
Trump campaign calls 'The Apprentice' 'blatantly false,' director offers to screen it for him
Donald Trump's reelection campaign called 'The Apprentice,' a film about the former U.S. president in the 1980s, 'pure fiction' and vowed legal action following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. But director Ali Abbasi is offering to privately screen the film for Trump.
Feels like mid-30s in parts of Canada, while other areas expecting snow
Anything is possible this week, as far as Canada's weather is concerned, with forecasts ranging from scorching heat in some parts of the country to rain and snow in others.
Nestle to sell $5 pizza, sandwiches in the U.S. for Wegovy, Ozempic users
Nestle NESN.S will market a new, US$5 line of frozen pizzas and protein-enriched pastas in the United States which it says it designed specifically for people taking drugs such as Wegovy or Ozempic for weight loss.
How much more Canadian consumers are paying, compared to this time last year
Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to a three-year low of 2.7 per cent in April, matching expectations, and core measures continued to ease, data showed on Tuesday, likely boosting chances of a June interest rate cut.