Madam Speaker, today in my riding of Sudbury, education workers will be bravely standing up to the provincial Ford government to fight for their legal rights to collective bargaining guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Ford government’s use of the notwithstanding clause is unconscionable. Instead of continuing to bargain with the union, the Ford government wanted to impose a four-year contract on 55,000 education support workers, which includes prohibiting a strike during the life of the contract. Now it has proceeded with the use of the notwithstanding clause to prevent CUPE members from using the charter to challenge the legislation in court.
Education workers deserve our respect and to be compensated fairly for the incredibly important work they do. They have the right to negotiate their contracts and not have the Ford government impose one. The largest public school board in northern Ontario has closed all schools today because it cannot operate without its valuable education workers.
The Conservative Government of Ontario has demonstrated time and again it does not have the backs of workers in Ontario.