Conflict of interest: Financial guru Fred Masters enriched by WCDSB contracts due to wife's trustee role?

David Menzies reports on a possible scandal at the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, which involves conflicts of interest, financial mismanagement, and highlights the division between trustees focused on education and those pursuing personal agendas.

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Oh-oh. Yet another apparent scandal is brewing at the Kitchener, Ontario-based Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB).

This is a fascinating school board given that it is essentially divided 50-50 by those trustees who want to do the right thing in the name of educating children versus woke, Catholic-in-name-only trustees who have essentially infiltrated the board to further their own so-called progressive agendas.

It’s for the kids, you understand…

We first became aware of the WCDSB last year when trustee Wendy Ashby made international news — for all the wrong reasons.

Ashby was the kook who stated the following on social media: “The most dangerous creature on the planet is the White Christian male. They’re a threat to anyone who is not them.”

Can you imagine? A Catholic school board trustee, who appears to be Caucasian herself, promotes a statement that is equal parts racist, sexist and Christophobic.

And “creature”? Are you kidding me…

But under the so-called leadership of Tyrone Dowling, the board’s director of education, the damage control regarding Ashby’s outrageous slurs boiled down to a two-prong strategy: first, adopt a media relations strategy seemingly created by Sgt. Shultz (“I know nothing! I saw nothing!”).

Alas, when the Ashby controversy did not go away, Dowling employed the second prong of the board’s communications scheme: Which is to say he BANNED independent media outlets such as Rebel News and Campaign Life Coalition from attending school board meetings under threat of trespass.

Our crime? Asking impolite questions.

You know, we think if this school board were to adopt an animal as its symbol, it would be the turtle. Like a turtle, whenever controversy emerges, the WCDSB retracts into a shell, hoping things will blow over. That’s how Dowling and the board’s chair, Bob Sikora, operate when it comes to crisis management.

Well, with Ashby, things did NOT settle down nor go away. Justifiably angry parents protested at the school board’s headquarters and we dispatched our jumbotron billboard truck to send a message, too.

Finally, for a change, Ashby did the right thing. Under mounting pressure, she resigned. This vapid and vacuous social justice warrior was replaced by Conrad Stanley. Conrad is a good man who actually subscribes to Catholic values.

Imagine that: somebody working at the Catholic school board who is on Team Catholicism? Shockers!

Now, if you can believe it, after the Wendy Ashby fiasco, the ringleaders at the WCDSB pulled a fast one by trying to quietly sneak through a budget line item of a whopping $300,000 for LGBTQ-etc.-etc. books and other propaganda material for classrooms. The moolah was going to be taken out of the board’s reserve fund.

This nest egg is typically meant for emergencies, such as unexpected repairs at schools. But apparently, through the woke lens of Tyrone Dowling, a lack of Spirit Unicorn material on library shelves classifies as an… emergency? Anyway, some other trustees who are, you know, driven by Catholic values and fiscal prudence got wind of these shenanigans, and this Rainbow Mafia book bonanza was thankfully cancelled.

But talk about chutzpah on the behalf of Dowling and his minions. These so-called progressive educrats to believe the WCDSB is a paragon of truth and virtue, ignoring parents and shutting down freedom of the press. And yet, Rebel News was tipped off that there’s a new scandal here, a major conflict of interest issue at the board.

Here are the allegations according to our sources: Kathy Doherty-Masters was involved in hiring someone called Fred Masters. Fred Masters runs a company called Masters Money Management Inc.

Mr. Masters was rewarded with the following three contracts. One was for $2,200 in exchange for 100 autographed copies of his book, Lessons on Mastering Money.

Secondly, Mr. Masters was also given a speaker’s fee of $1,400. And finally, last May, he was paid a stipend of $800 to conduct a financial wellness presentation.

That’s all well and good. And we’re sure Fred Masters is a fine money manager and author. Except for one thing. It’s that similar-sounding surname.

Is there any connection between Fred Masters and Kathy Doherty-Masters? Oh, you better believe there is. They’re husband and wife. And that puts them in an inherent conflict of interest. Kathy Doherty-Masters should’ve recused herself from approving agenda minutes especially in regard to financial decisions made by the board that would directly enrich her hubby.

But she didn’t recuse herself. She made sure taxpayers dollars went to her husband. You know, we haven’t read Lessons on Mastering Money. But I have an idea that maybe one of those lessons might be this: ensure you have a relative in government who has access to taxpayer dollars so that this money can be — how shall we put it? — redirected to the family bank account. Nice!

By the way, in the Department of Plenty of Blame to Go Around, I need to point out that one of the trustees who approved this shady deal was Tracey Weiler. I wonder, does Tracey have buyer’s remorse now that these conflicts of allegations are surfacing?

Also, I was recently made aware of someone by the name of Brendan Masters. Brendan works at two Catholic schools in the region, Resurrection and St. Louis. Say, do you think this particular Mr. Masters has any connection with the aforementioned Fred Masters and Kathy Doherty-Masters? Is there salt water in the Pacific Ocean?

Yes, Brendan is the son of Fred and Kathy.

Now, it’s not inappropriate that he works at schools in the region if mama is a trustee. What is offside, however, is that Kathy has to recuse herself in voting on budget items or union negotiations. It’s that conflict-of-interest thingy again, you see. So, did Kathy recuse herself? Nope.

It gets worse: our sources allege that Kathy, for some inexplicable reason, has the highest mileage claim of all WCDSB trustees.

Last year, she put in a claim for some $1,800 in gas money. Which is odd. Because she only lives about 10 km from the school board’s headquarters. And she was out of the country for about two months last year.

Sources say her mileage claims are about double what they should be. Gee, was this another financial enrichment tip Kathy plucked from hubby’s whiz-bang Lessons on Mastering Money?

Who knows? But we’ll say one thing: the board has to get its ethics commissioner on this case. Except for one not-so-insignificant hitch: there is no ethics commissioner at this school board. How convenient! Especially for those using the board’s budget for personal enrichment purposes.

Over the past several days, we did reach out to all parties involved. We especially wanted to hear from Kathy Doherty-Masters and Tyrone Dowling and Bob Sikora and Tracey Weiler about these numerous conflicts of interest allegations and what appears to be padded mileage expenses.

And par for the course, the WCDSB has gone into full turtle mode. Nobody there has had the decency to acknowledge my requests for comment. And Rebel News can’t pay a house call to the board’s office. We’d be arrested for trespassing.

It’s the Wendy Ashby scandal all over again. And apparently these educrats never learn.

We also reached out to Fred Masters, leaving him a detailed voicemail message. So far, radio silence. Then again, we were calling long-distance. Maybe one of the tips in Lessons on Mastering Money is this: don’t return long-distance phone calls to avoid getting dinged with long-distance charges…

Brutal.

Now that this information is public, maybe this will lead to another woeful wokester stepping down. We’re looking at you Kathy Doherty-Masters.

And you know, we’re sure all this dirty laundry being aired in public must be very stressful for Mrs. Doherty-Masters. But we have an idea. Wendy Ashby, incredibly, still works as a mental health counsellor at Trillium Health. Oh, this just in: Wendy Ashby has changed her name. She is now known as Wendy Jacqueline.

Now, why would she do that?

Anyway, Kathy, maybe you can book a few shrink sessions with Doc Ashby/Jacqueline. And how’s this for an idea: maybe you can arrange a quid pro quo deal with your former crazed colleague. Which is to say, Wendy gives you psychiatric advice and you compensate her with signed copies of hubby’s financial advice books?

And hey, maybe afterwards, Kathy, you and Fred Masters can co-write a sequel to Lessons on Mastering Money. We’ve already got the perfect title for you: Masters of Disaster.

Ontario Canada Education Kitchener News Analysis school system
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