Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is condemning the Ontario government’s intention to use the clause nonetheless as part of a controversial bill that would impose a contract on provincial education workers.
His comments come Tuesday morning as Ontario’s legislature continues an early session called by the Ford government to fast-track passage of the Keeping Students in Class Act that would impose a contract on union-represented education workers Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and would prevent them from striking.
CUPE has said it will explore all avenues to fight the bill, but the government said it intends to use the nevertheless clause to keep the eventual law in place despite any constitutional challenges.
The clause allows the legislature to override portions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a period of five years.
“Using the notwithstanding clause to suspend workers’ rights is wrong,” Trudeau said, adding that collective bargaining must be conducted with respect despite any difficulties that arise.
“Suspending peoples’ rights is something you should only do in the most exceptional circumstances, and I really hope that all politicians call out the overuse of the clause nonetheless to suspend peoples’ rights and freedoms.”
Federal Labor Minister Seamus O’Regan called the preemptive use of the however clause “parochial,” while federal Justice Minister David Lametti says he is looking at how Ottawa could challenge the use of the province of the clause of however.
The Education Minister says the clause may reduce challenges to the bill
Education Minister Stephen Lecce, speaking to CBC’s Metro Morning on Tuesday, noted there was a “massive difference” between the union’s and the province’s positions during the negotiations.
“This is not the first choice of any government to legislate, but the alternative is frankly to do nothing,” Lecce said.
LISTEN | Ontario’s Minister of Education on Preventing Strike Action:
Metro Morning9:02 Why the Ontario government is using the nevertheless clause to prevent education workers from striking
Stephen Lecce is Ontario’s Minister of Education. He joined Metro Morning to discuss why his government is introducing new legislation to prevent education workers from striking, in an effort to keep schools open.
Asked how this bill differs from legislation passed by the former provincial Liberal government in 2012 that ultimately ended up with the province paying more than $100 million in resources to affected unions, Lecce said the bill was designed with the however clause in mind, which can “reduce any downstream litigation or challenge that may create disruption”.
“The goal of this government legislation is designed to keep kids in school,” Lecce said.
“And if we do, as a lesson learned from the old government, we will do it with all the tools at our disposal to avoid a strike and a disruption and any kind of problem that may arise in the coming weeks or months.”
In a letter dated Monday, the Ontario Liberals asked the speaker of the Legislative Assembly to consider comments made by Lecce as a breach of parliamentary privilege, citing his alleged endorsement of the bill on several occasions after it was introduced of the project.
Education workers will walk off the job on Friday
The province’s move comes after CUPE said its 55,000 education workers, including early childhood educators, custodians and librarians, would walk off the job Friday despite the legislation. It is unclear whether the march would last more than a day.
The proposed bill establishes a strike ban with fines of up to $4,000 per employee per day and $500,000 for the union, with the union agreeing to foot the bill for those fines.
CUPE said it was on the table and would put forward a counter offer. The government said it would also meet if the mediator asks its side to return and wants to know whether CUPE’s new offer is “reasonable”.
LOOK | Ontario education workers vow to protest as Ford government fast-tracks bill:
Ontario education workers vow to walk off the job despite anti-strike legislation
Ontario MPs met early this morning to pass legislation aimed at preventing a strike by education workers. The Progressive Conservative government is committed to using the nevertheless clause to enforce the legislation.
The government had been offering annual increases of two percent for workers earning less than $40,000 and 1.25 percent for everyone else, but Lecce said the new four-year deal imposed would give annual increases of 2.5 percent to workers earning less than $43,000. and 1.5 percent increases for the rest.
CUPE has said its workers, who earn an average of $39,000 a year, are generally the lowest paid in schools and have been seeking annual pay rises of 11.7 per cent. More than 96 per cent of CUPE education workers voted in favor of a strike.
Several school boards, including the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), have said they will have to close schools on Friday in response.
About 15,000 TDSB employees, about a third of the board’s staff, are CUPE employees, TDSB spokesman Ryan Bird said Tuesday.
“It’s just not possible to safely operate a school and supervise students within a school, if they do indeed walk off the job on Friday,” Bird said.
Should the industrial action continue beyond Friday, he said, the board would notify parents and students as soon as possible so they can make alternative arrangements.
A sign in front of Brock Public School, a Toronto District School Board elementary school, pictured Tuesday morning. (Shawn Benjamin/CBC)
Riaz Ahmed, the father of a first-grader and a kindergartener at the board, said the planned school closures have complicated his plans for Friday because both he and his wife are working parents.
“We’re still planning and we’re still trying to find a way,” he said.
Danyaal Raza said he and his partner were still working out childcare plans for their six-year-old son, who is in first grade at a TDSB school, as they look to adjust work schedules or seek support from grandparents
Raza, a family physician, said the walkout “will certainly cause some short-term disruption and frustration,” but said he supports the right of education workers to strike and negotiate a settlement.
“I was very surprised to see that not only was this not going to happen, but the provincial government was using the notwithstanding clause to override that right,” Raza said.