A pro-parental rights York Region District School Board trustee candidate who ran on a platform opposing political indoctrination in schools won a by-election by a landslide.
Robert Kolosowski won the Richmond Hill Wards 1, 2 & 4 by-election with 66.32% of the vote, while the other eight candidates running against him only received a combined 33.68%.
The by-election took place to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of trustee Crystal Yu in Apr. 2024.
“Parents and teachers united behind our vision for a merit-based system that prioritizes education and school safety instead of politics,” Kolosowski told True North.
He added that “the vast majority of parents and teachers want to restore the education system’s focus on its core mandate, education” and that “our education system should not go right or left. It should go forward.”
Kolosowski ran on a “common-sense” platform, which featured several education policies promoted by conservatives and anti-woke activists.
His platform includes supporting merit-based admission for specialized programs instead of DEI lotteries, as well as merit-based hiring for teachers.
Kolosowski said he wants students to be taught critical thinking skills rather than political ideologies, with his platform stating that he wants to “keep all political agendas out of the classroom.”
He also supports a zero-tolerance policy for the sexualization of children.
Furthermore, Kolosowski opposes banning police from schools, and wants to have educational presentations from the York Regional Police to help tackle school violence.
He also pledged to fight woke activists who want to end the signing of O’Canada and remove the Canadian flag from schools.
Ahead of the vote, Kolosowski received endorsements from former Conservative MP Costas Menegakis and Conservative candidate Vincent Ho, as well as from prominent anti-woke voices in education, like Waterloo Region District School Board trustee Mike Ramsay and Toronto District School Board trustee Dr. Weidong Pei.
While Kolowoski received strong endorsements and support at the ballot box, his campaign was also heavily criticized.
Queer activist group Pflag York Region accused Kolowoski of using “dog-whistle ant-trans rhetoric.”
Pflag took issue with Kolowoski’s use of the term “parental rights” in his campaign, as well as his stance against “politicization in the classroom” and his pledge to support removing “political ideologies” from the classroom.
Kolowoski was also criticized by local Liberal MP Leah Taylor Roy, who accused him of “bringing partisan politics” into the trustee race.
Asked if he had a response to his critics, Kolowoski gave a quote from former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, “if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.”
He also pointed out that 66% of individuals voted for him.