A former school trustee candidate in Windsor is pursuing legal action against the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board and the Diocese of London.

Eric Renaud lost his election bid in Wards 3 and 4 last week.

Renaud claims the board illegally interfered in the campaign by issuing a letter to the catholic community on the eve of the election, urging people to "speak up on behalf of publicly-funded catholic education" and vote on Oct. 22.

The letter was in response to calls by Renaud and another trustee to merge the administrations of the public and separate school boards.

In an interview last week with CTV Windsor, Catholic director of education Terry Lyons insisted they did nothing wrong.

“We wanted to reaffirm all the great things that we do as a board to our Catholic members,” said Lyons, who also noted the letter did not mention any specific candidates.

Renaud has asked the city clerk's office as well as the ministries of education and municipal affairs to investigate the alleged violation of the municipal elections act.

Renaud is also filing a grievance with the Canada Revenue Agency, claiming the board is forbidden from registering as third party advertisers in municipal elections.