Christy Clark says teachers court ruling opportunity to ease tension

B.C. premier Christy Clark is calling a B.C. court ruling on teachers' bargaining rights an opportunity to work on the strained relationship between the provincial government and the B.C. Teachers Federation.

In a 4-1 decision, the B.C. Court of Appeal sided with the government, ruling that the province did not violate teachers' constitutional rights when it introduced Bill 22 in 2012 — legislation that temporarily limited teacher bargaining on class size and composition.

"Combine the six-year agreement with this judgment, I think that is a big opportunity to smooth things over," Clark told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.

"We both want to spend that time talking about how we improve education and the fact is when you're always fighting — as we always were — you don't get there."

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The B.C. Teachers Federation said it will seek leave to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada. 

"A government should not be able to just dictate what they want, simply talk to the union and force it by legislation, when there are collective agreements in place," said BCTF president Jim Iker at a news conference following the decision.

"Collective bargaining needs to be about give and take, about respect and hard negotiations between employers and employees."

Clark said she isn't worried about what the outcome of that could be.

"Our government — since I've been premier anyway — have got some really surprising decisions in the past from the Supreme Court that lots of people have said would spell disaster or uncertainty for the province. I'm one of the people that says whatever happens, we've got to find opportunity in it."

Ruling sets persuasive precedent says lawyer

The court ruling is binding, and could set a precedent for future labour negotiations across the country, according to law professor Sara Slinn — who worked as a labour lawyer in B.C.

"It means that if the government can character the matter as policy issues — and when it comes to the public sector a lot of the terms and conditions could credibly be characterized as policy issues — that if the government engages in consultation is may be fine to unilaterally change them," she said.

Slinn said the decision is "novel" — meaning this specific aspect of collective bargaining hasn't yet been ruled on by the Supreme Court of Canada in any judgment.

The Supreme Court of Canada has not yet ruled on whether it will hear an appeal of the ruling, and if it doesn't the Court of Appeal will have the final word.

"I hope they hear the case, because this type of legislative intervention is something that governments have engaged in quite vigorously over the years and recently, out of concern that it might be unconstitutional there's a view governments have restrained themselves," she said.

"Given this decision, that period of restraint might be over."

In 2014 there were 80 appeal applications from B.C. made to the Supreme Court of Canada, but only eight were heard.

To hear the full interview with Christy Clark, listen to the audio labelled: B.C. premier on teachers court ruling.

To hear the full interview with Sara Slinn, listen to the audio labelled: Teachers court ruling's legal implications.