While the EMSB just elected Ann Marie Matheson to be its new director general on June 30, two commissioners are already disputing her qualifications for the job and the fairness of the vote.

Julien Feldman and Agostino Cannavino say Matheson’s relationship with Chairman Angela Mancini is inappropriate, given that Matheson was a key strategist and organizer for Mancini’s campaign leading up to the school board elections last November. While Mancini did recuse herself from the vote that elected Matheson, other commissioners, who are on Mancini’s team and comprise the majority of seats on the council, did not.

"Elected commissioners are not allowed to promote friends for staff positions for obvious reasons," said Feldman. "These are all regulations, they're in the Education Act, they're in the School Elections Act. It's as if we're in a complete legal vacuum."

Feldman and Cannavino are asking the Education Minister to intervene and investigate whether the vote was valid.

“Should such a review warrant it, the opposition is also asking for a commitment from the minister to conduct an independent competition for the post of director general of the EMSB, including the application of minimum hiring qualifications as prescribed by the government,” said Feldman.

The two are also questioning why there were only two candidates interviewed for the job.

"This is one of the most prestigious, top paying jobs in the  Anglophone community in Quebec," said Feldman. "So how is it no one really knew that this procedure was happening and this hiring was going on?"

According to EMSB spokesman Mike Cohen, the EMSB followed due process in hiring Matheson.

“Ann Marie Matheson is a very unique candidate,” he said. “This is a woman who has been a teacher, coordinator, principal, vice-principal, who worked with the Ministry of Education and served as a commissioner for three years. There aren't too many director general candidates who have all that on their CV.”

He added that the commission is a political entity and that these types of disputes do arise and are part of the democratic process.