Ontario’s premier is digging in his heels by refusing to give teachers the 1% pay increase they’re looking for.
Doug Ford stresses his government doesn’t have the extra $750-million the unions are asking for due to the financial mess the province is coming out of.
Ford points out Ontario teachers are the second highest paid in the country.
“We either stay stagnant and rollover, like the previous Liberal government did, and give the unions whatever they want, or we be responsible and respect the taxpayers money.”
When it comes to the dispute over mandatory on-line learning, Ford says he finds it ironic when looking at how the teachers update their credentials.
“When the teachers have to upgrade their skills, guess what, they do it on-line. But it’s not alright for Grade 11 or Grade 12 student to go on-line and take a course?”
Ford is also defending a decision to compensate parents of children affected by the recent strikes.
He says “I think it was a good move that we are using the teachers salaries to compensate the parents that have to pay $60-$40 to put their children in daycare.”
Ford stresses he wants to negotiate a fair deal, stressing back to work legislation is absolutely the last resort.
He believes the majority of parents support the government, considering families go through this every three to four years regardless of the party in power.
