Doug Ford urged to fire education minister as teachers escalate job action

Thestar.com
February 5, 2020
Kristin Rushowy

As Ontario’s 45,000 Catholic teachers hit picket lines Tuesday, there were calls for Premier Doug Ford to fire Education Minister Stephen Lecce for “poisoning” relations with educators.

The minister also took the heat from the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario for a breakdown in talks after three days of negotiations last week.

ETFO president Sam Hammond, whose members will hold two strikes this week in each board -- including a province-wide strike Thursday -- blamed Lecce for the fact that talks with his union ended abruptly on Friday night.

“We were close to an agreement on three or four key issues,” Hammond told reporters.

“Then, late that day, the government’s negotiators changed course and tabled impossible options they knew ETFO could not accept,” he said, pointing to reductions in funding for special education. “Salary was not part of the discussion.”

Tuesday’s province-wide walkout by Catholic teachers, their second this year, shut down elementary and high schools across the province.

Their job action came after a day at the negotiating table with the Ford government. While no deal was reached, both sides said they are willing to return to talks.

Liz Stuart, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), told the Star Tuesday “it’s never a good thing when you have to make this decision” to strike, but that her members are “energized and committed” to fighting the Ford government’s proposed changes, which they say will harm education.

Stuart, who visited picket lines in Oakville, Brampton and York Region, said the union is willing to return to the bargaining table, even though Monday’s session saw very little progress.

“We’ve been very clear, and we didn’t make the progress that was necessary to get a deal,” she said. However, “anytime you’re in a room together, speaking, is a good sign.”

She said she expects the mediator to propose more negotiating dates.

OECTA’s daylong strike is part of growing labour action among Ontario’s teachers, who are opposed to government changes such as larger classes -- meaning fewer course options for teens -- as well as mandatory e-learning.

At Queen’s Park, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath implored Ford to sack Lecce.

“As premier, the buck stops with Doug Ford,” Horwath told reporters.

“He is the only one that can end these strikes and get our kids back in the classroom where they belong,” she said. “That’s why I am calling on Doug Ford to hit the reset button (and) fire Stephen Lecce.”

The premier rallied to his embattled minister.

Ford’s office said there were no plans to replace Lecce, who took over from predecessor Lisa Thompson last June.

Horwath, meanwhile, said it was too early to speculate about what her party would do if the Progressive Conservatives try to legislate an end to the strikes when the legislature resumes on Feb. 18.

She stressed that New Democrats want a collectively bargained solution to the impasse.

Liberal MPP and leadership hopeful Mitzie Hunter, who visited the Star’s editorial board on Tuesday, said the Ford government has been using “bully tactics” with the teachers.

“It’s not working,” she said, describing the system as being in “complete chaos. Every community is talking about it.”

The elementary teachers are now holding two strikes a week, including all 83,000 members this Thursday, and more planned for next week.

All teachers are engaged in job action of some sort, including submitting bare-bones winter report cards and, in the case of elementary teachers, no extracurriculars.

Lecce has urged the unions not to escalate.

After talks with OECTA on Monday, he said “our government has continuously demonstrated our focus and desire to keeping kids in class through reaching an agreement with teachers’ unions. Bargaining with OECTA occurred throughout today, and we are now waiting for the mediator” to propose more dates.

The government has said the key sticking point with teachers is salary, with the province holding firm at one per cent a year and unions seeking cost of living, or two percent.