By Howie Silbiger
I ran in a school board election in 2024. I lost. I didn’t run in the same ward as Julien Feldman, so we were not direct competitors, and for full transparency, I’ve known Julien for a long time. During that election, I was on the opposing slate and served as a witness for Dr. Bel during Feldman’s most recent ethics hearings.
Julien Feldman is a nice guy. He can be personable, engaging, and genuinely pleasant one on one. He is also consistently contentious. In public settings, he is combative and thrives on confrontation. That contradiction has followed him throughout his time at the English Montreal School Board, which is why the latest ethics ruling against him isn’t about one comment or one campaign. It’s about how someone with a long and public record of ethical violations keeps getting re elected anyway.
When I knocked on doors during the campaign and tried to explain why school board governance matters, the message was blunt. People don’t pay attention. They don’t know the commissioners. They don’t know the records. And they don’t believe the system affects them in any meaningful way.
This week, the English Montreal School Board Ethics Commissioner suspended Feldman for fifteen days, ordered a public apology, and imposed a financial penalty after finding that he violated the Code of Ethics during the 2024 election by referring to rival candidate Dr. Shalani Bel as “Ms Gaza.” The ruling found the comment unwarranted and undignified, concluded that it undermined the Board’s image, rejected Feldman’s explanation as not credible, and determined that he did not act in good faith.
That should have been enough. It wasn’t.
Because this wasn’t an isolated incident. Feldman’s ethics record stretches back more than a decade. Since 2010, he has been sanctioned repeatedly, including multiple reprimands in a single case, a one-week suspension, a one-month suspension and now another 14 day suspension and another forced apology. At some point, this stops being a series of mistakes and becomes a pattern that is impossible to ignore.
It’s easy to dismiss all this by saying it’s only a school board, but truthfully, that excuse has worn thin. School commissioners oversee large budgets and make decisions that directly affect public education. This is not symbolic governance; it is real authority exercised by people who are supposed to meet basic ethical standards.
The Ethics Commissioner clearly understood this. The ruling treated Feldman’s conduct as part of a sustained pattern, not a momentary lapse. Multiple violations, multiple sanctions, multiple suspensions, all public and all followed by electoral victories. And to add insult to injury, Feldman sits as Vice Chair of the Governance and Ethics Committee, appointed by Board Chairman Joe Ortona.
That fact alone should trigger some serious questions. Instead, it has been met with silence. The EMSB has never explained how a repeatedly sanctioned commissioner can sit on the committee responsible for ethics. There has been no justification, no reflection, and no accountability.
In 2024, Feldman didn’t run quietly or defensively. He ran as a star candidate on the Ortona slate. He was prominently featured, highly visible, and aggressively promoted. That kind of institutional backing doesn’t just help a campaign. It reframes a candidate. It tells voters that the ethics record doesn’t matter, that it’s background noise rather than a warning sign.
And it works.
When violations are absorbed, explained away, or quietly ignored, they stop being disqualifying. They become normalized. Repetition dulls outrage and institutional endorsement replaces scrutiny.
To be clear, the ethics system functioned as designed. There was an investigation. Witnesses were heard. Evidence was reviewed. A detailed ruling was issued. Sanctions were imposed. But the system’s limits are now obvious. An Ethics Commissioner can suspend, reprimand, and fine. What they cannot do is force real consequences. Removal requires political will, and at the EMSB, that will appears to be absent.
So, the cycle continues. Misconduct. Sanction. Short pause. Business as usual. Administratively, the file is closed, but from a governance perspective, nothing changes.
Most voters never see these rulings. They are not mailed to parents. They are not highlighted during elections. They are not attached to ballots. School board elections are low information, low engagement, and everyone involved knows it. So, unless you follow EMSB politics closely, you could vote for the same commissioner multiple times without ever knowing their disciplinary history. And even when people do know, the institutional response, or lack of one, signals that it doesn’t really matter.
What stands out now is not just Feldman’s record, but the EMSB’s indifference to it. There has been no public statement. No explanation of how ethics violations factor into leadership roles. No acknowledgment that repeated breaches erode trust. Therefore the message can’t be any clearer; Ethics enforcement is procedural, not meaningful. You can violate the rules, be sanctioned, and return to full standing once the penalty period ends.
I lost my race in 2024, Dr. Bel lost hers and Feldman won his. Nearly fourteen months later, the Ethics Commissioner ruled that Feldman crossed a line, against the backdrop of a long disciplinary history.
The disconnect between ethics and outcomes at the school board is the real issue. And until the EMSB, and the voters who elect its commissioners, decide that repeated ethical violations carry consequences, this won’t be the last time we’re told to accept the same result and pretend it’s accountability.
Howie Silbiger is the host of The Howie Silbiger Show on Truetalkradio.com and Political Hitman on israelnewstalkradio.com. He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Montreal Jewish News.
