Ford says he will rescind controversial bill if Ontario education workers end strike action
CBC
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday that his government is willing to repeal legislation that imposed a contract on education workers and took away their right to strike if the Canadian Union Public Employees (CUPE) ends its ongoing walkout.
Ford made the announcement at a morning news conference alongside Education Minister Stephen Lecce.
Some 55,000 CUPE education workers walked off the job on Friday after contract negotiations fell apart, forcing schools across the province to close to in-person learning.
The union has framed the action as a political protest against Bill 28, which also included the notwithstanding clause to circumvent any constitutional challenge to the legislation.
"Students need stability. They should be in the classroom with their teachers," Ford said, adding that he has no regrets about passing Bill 28 and that his government was "left with no choice."
But he said he would like the union to come back to the bargaining table.
"I feel we can strike a deal. But [CUPE] are the only ones who have the ability to have kids back in the classroom."
Ford called his offer to revisit the legislation a "massive olive branch" and appealed to CUPE members to return to work.
CUPE leaders are scheduled to hold their own news conference at 11 a.m. ET in Toronto.
The union's national president will be joined by national and provincial labour leaders including representatives from the Canadian Labour Congress and the Ontario Federation of Labour.
You can watch both news conferences live in this story.
Ford's announcement comes as CUPE, the government and families await a decision by the Ontario Labour Relations Board on the legality of the strike.
CUPE says its education-worker members will remain off the job regardless of the labour board's decision.
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.