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House Hansard - 125

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 4, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 125 - Nov/4/22
Ms. Viviane Lapointe (Sudbury, Lib.)
  • Nov/4/22 11:01:00 a.m.
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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.
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Context: House Hansard - 125 - Nov/4/22
Mr. Adam van Koeverden (Milton, Lib.)
  • Nov/4/22 11:11:17 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, workers' rights are human rights, and the right to collectively bargaining is a fundamental pillar of workers' rights here in Canada. Unions across this nation protect workers and ensure better outcomes for them, their families and the people they support in schools, hospitals, factories and work sites across Canada. Education is absolutely essential. It is perhaps the most important public investment, and we have not seen investments in public education, or in the workers who support it, as a priority from Doug Ford in over four years. What Doug Ford's Conservative government is doing is an absolute travesty. Workers have the right to negotiate, and stripping that right away is wrong. Pre-emptively including the notwithstanding clause into legislation is a direct threat to the fundamental rights we are all fortunate enough to take for granted, and this is not what the notwithstanding clause is meant to be used for. It is a clear violation and an abuse of the trust we give to elected people in this country. Support workers are vital. They are vital part of the education system. They are some of the most essential workers, and at the same time, they are some of the most underpaid workers. They deserve better. I stand in solidarity with CUPE, ETFO, OSSTF, OPSEU and all workers in the education sector. They deserve better from Doug Ford's Conservatives.
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