EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted exclusively to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park
In May, Stephen Lecce visited Wasaga Beach to announce nearly $58 million in provincial funding for a new kindergarten to Grade 12 Catholic school for the town.
The school — Wasaga Beach’s first high school — would be built next to the town’s new Wasaga Stars Arena and public library, with local officials saying it would provide students with “a dynamic learning environment and offer residents a hub for education, sport and community engagement.”
At the announcement, Lecce, Ontario's education minister at the time, highlighted the advocacy of the project’s proponents.
"I know more about this project than I ever signed up for," said Lecce, now the energy and electrification minister, at the May 1 event, as reported by CollingwoodToday. "But that just speaks to the volume of advocacy and the passion that you have."
Nearly two months earlier, a developer owning most of the land where the school will be built hosted a $1,000-per-plate fundraiser for Lecce, documents obtained by The Trillium show.
The documents shed some light on the behind-the-scenes push leading up to the school project’s approval, including the developer assembling a contingent of town representatives to go to the March 7 fundraiser.
“I was reaching out regarding a small group fund raising event I will be hosting this Thursday March 7 with the Honourable Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education. I know and also apologize for the short notice, however, this is all coming together very quickly,” Bob Schickedanz, a partner with FarSight Homes, wrote to Wasaga Beach’s chief administrative officer (CAO) Andrew McNeill on March 3.
“Considering how important our joint efforts are to secure funding for the new combined school in Wasaga Beach it would be beneficial if you and another key staff member and perhaps the Mayor and Deputy Mayor (can you canvas them on their availability?) could join us for the event,” stated Schickedanz’s email, which was included in a report written by the town’s integrity commissioner that The Trillium obtained a copy of.
FarSight Homes owns more than 100 acres of land beside the arena and library and has proposed a residential development of more than 400 townhomes and detached homes, according to a presentation made at a town council meeting in March 2023. The minutes from the March 10, 2023 meeting included concerns from a couple of residents about “the amount of residents in this area and no additional schools being built.”
“While this is a fund raising event there would be NO cost to any of you and I would greatly appreciate if we could get a good Wasaga Beach contingent in the room … Just let me know what works and I will make sure everyone is registered,” Schickedanz wrote.
The group that attended included Deputy Mayor Tanya Snell, councillors Joe Belanger and Richard White, CAO McNeill and deputy CAO Gerry Marshall, according to the report.
Ian Stedman, an assistant professor at York University's School of Public Policy and Administration who worked in the provincial integrity commissioner's office from 2011 to 2014, said the situation raises some questions.
“If you're a lobbyist developer and you're asking for something from the province, effectively, then to hold a fundraiser for that provincial minister is putting them in a position that could lead to a conflict of interest,” said Stedman, who also noted this would only apply if a person or firm is actually lobbying the province.
As for municipal officials, he said there are “appropriate channels” to go through when lobbying the province for funding, including having a direct line to the minister’s office and government officials responsible for communicating with municipalities.
“At the municipal level, you're not supposed to be partisan. So the perception to the public will be that you have made a donation or a contribution, or that you are showing support by attending a political fundraiser for anyone, provincially or federally, and I don't like that, I don't think that's appropriate,” said Stedman.
“I understand that official meetings may happen before or after a fundraiser, because people are busy and they might have to pull off to a side and have a chat, but I don't like the idea of actually attending a fundraiser as an elected official who's supposed to be non-partisan, no matter what you're asking for.”
The Trillium reached out to all three members of council who went to the March 7 event and the town’s communications team.
Sandra Watts, Wasaga Beach’s director of strategic communications and intergovernmental affairs, said the event organized by FarSight was “completely separate” from the town, which received a “last-minute invitation.”
“Town representatives did not pay to attend the event,” Watts stated in an email.
She said they got to speak with Lecce for a few minutes before his speech and then left after his remarks.
“They took the opportunity to reiterate the general need for a high school in Wasaga Beach – any high school,” Watts said, adding that they also stressed that Wasaga Beach is one of the fastest growing communities and the largest without a high school.
“The also reminded him that hundreds of elementary and high school age kids get bussed outside our community every day to attend school, which puts strain on families and students, and really limits students’ ability to participate in extra-curricular activities and develop the strong sense of community pride that kids gain through participation in school sports teams,” she said. “At no time did Town representatives speak to the Minister about the K-12 proposal.”
She added that town officials' attendance at the fundraiser was “cleared by the integrity commissioner, who determined that it was ‘ordinary activity’ for the municipality.”
The town’s integrity commissioner wrote in the report that McNeill, Wasaga Beach’s CAO, indicated the group had a “pleasant but brief chat with Minister Lecce for about 10 minutes.” The report also said the contingent “treated the opportunity as a further delegation” to one the town had “in collaboration with their partners Simcoe County, the Simcoe County Catholic District School Board, and FarSight Homes” with Lecce at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association conference in January.
“Their attendance was clearly part of a lobbying effort, attempting to persuade Minister Lecce to make a decision they believed would be for the Town's benefit,” the integrity commissioner wrote of the town's representatives, adding that “there was no undue use of influence.”
"I accept that the delegation didn't actually attend or participate in the fundraiser itself - they were only there to delegate on behalf their cause, and I accept that nobody in the delegation paid to attend," the report stated.
Reached by phone last week, Schickedanz, who was president of the Ontario Home Builders' Association (OHBA) from 2019-22, said the school board will buy the land to build the school and that this is subject to a “confidential agreement between ourselves.”
Schickedanz hung up as The Trillium tried to ask about the March fundraiser. The Trillium called back and left a message outlining some questions regarding the fundraiser, attendance and costs, and requested comment in response to concerns raised by some residents about it. The call was not returned.
Lecce’s office declined an interview.
“This decision was recommended by the non-partisan public service. Minister Lecce did not discuss government business at this event,” Isha Chaudhuri, Lecce’s spokesperson, said in response to several questions including how the K-12 school was approved, whether there were any additional hosts of the fundraiser, whether the minister spoke with the contingent from Wasaga Beach about the school proposal at the event, if he inquired about whether anyone was paying for them to attend and whether the lobbying effort played a role in the project’s approval.
Edyta McKay, spokesperson for Education Minister Jill Dunlop, who took on the cabinet role on Aug. 16, offered a similar response.
"Independent public servants recommended the Wasaga Beach school for approval. Proposals for the 2023-24 capital priorities submissions began in October 2023 and the decision to approve the school was based on the explosive growth across Simcoe region, as they have among the highest number of overpopulated schools in the entire province,” McKay said. “Our government doubled the school building fund to build modern new schools, faster.”
A spokesperson for Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board (SMCDSB) said they were not invited to attend the fundraiser.
“We had no idea about the fundraiser, we weren't aware of it, we didn't attend it,” said Pauline Stevenson, the board’s communications manager.
“The town came to us with a proposal that we thought was interesting. We explored it on its merits, it had a very strong business case. We followed every process to the letter … that we were meant to follow, and we actually really think this is a really exciting opportunity,” Stevenson told The Trillium.
The board anticipates the school will open in 2027 and that it's expected to have around 516 elementary students and close to 500 high school students.
The SMCDSB would need about six acres of land, which will be transferred to it through the town. Most of this would come from the land owned by FarSight Homes, with a small portion of the land coming from the parcel that the new arena and library sit on.
Stevenson said the board and developer are working out the details of the sale.
Watts, Wasaga Beach's spokesperson, said the town is obtaining some land as “park land dedication,” where a portion of a development is “reserved as park land for the municipality," and at no cost. It’ll be shared by the town and the board and will include the sports fields that students and members of the community can use.
She said the project came about as a result of the town wanting to find ways to “leverage” the $60 million investment in the arena and library facility to create a “community hub with a school and other assets that would benefit the Town and its full-time residents.”
“The Town invited partners to collaborate on turning this vision into reality, including the school boards and a local developer who owns the land adjacent to the Town’s new arena/library facility,” Watts said.
Some residents have raised questions about the approval of the Catholic school, with one public school board trustee claiming it “doesn't meet the needs of the community” given there are more high school students under the public board — there are currently around 675 students — and the number is expected to increase.
“So what this town needed was a public school, because the bulk of students are not Catholic, and that's the part that doesn't make sense,” said the trustee, who was granted anonymity so they could speak freely.
Stevenson, the Catholic board’s spokesperson, said approval of the K-12 school “doesn't presuppose that there isn't a need for another thing. We have no say over that. We just are worried about what makes sense for us and our students and our families and our staff and our board.”
-With files from Erika Engel