Former Ontario education ministers sound off on rotating teacher strikes

Ontario's teacher unions say the ongoing rotating strikes being staged throughout the province are meant to put pressure on the provincial government to get back to the table and make a deal. 

Two former education ministers told CBC Sudbury's Morning North that it works, because they've felt that pressure before.

"Regardless of their position, parents want their children back in school and they want the turmoil to end, the uncertainty to stop," says Janet Ecker, who was education minister in the PC government of Premier Mike Harris from 1999 to 2002.

"So yeah it is a pressure on the government. There's no question."

Former Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne, who was also education minister from 2006 to 2010, says that pressure does give the unions the upper hand, for now. 

"But there is a point at which families say 'A pox on both your houses. We just want our kids back in school and we just want it settled' and they don't actually care who comes in and fixes it, they just want it fixed," says Wynne, who is still a sitting MPP.

Both women agree that taking away the teachers right to strike by declaring schools an essential service like police and hospitals wouldn't save the province money or reduce tensions.

But they strongly disagree over the government's offer to refund child care costs parents incur due to these rotating teacher strikes, which the unions have dismissed as a "bribe."

"All the government is doing is saying 'Look parents: we understand that this is a challenge for you and it's not fair to you that you have to bear this expense.' It's got nothing to do with a bribe," says Ecker.

"Janet, it absolutely sets the government up as abdicating responsibility," says Wynne.

"They're saying 'This is the union's fault. We're going to give you money parents, because you are being harmed by the union.'"

While there have been labour disputes between the province and its teachers for decades, Wynne says this time is different because the government  "picked some really bad issues to go to war with the teachers on" namely, class sizes and mandatory online classes. 

"We were always having a discussion with the with teachers and with support staff about how much more we could afford to put in the system, how much more support we could provide," says the former premier. 

"The conversation right now is how much can we take out of the system. That's a very different conversation."

Both women also agree that the longer this dispute goes on, the harder it will be to reach a deal. 

"I'm not quite sure what the solution is going to be," says Ecker. 

"I just hope they can find one fairly soon because everybody pays a price when something like this goes on.