If there has been one thing that has become abundantly clear over the hours of debate—almost five as of right now—it’s that every provincial government does its battles with education unions, period. If we go back in time to when the opposition was in power in the 1990s, they actually put across a bill that left everyone at zero, froze salaries and required teachers and everyone else to take 12 unpaid days off a year.

When the independent Liberals were in power, most recently in 2012—and the NDP held the balance of power, even though they may not have supported Bill 115—education workers saw a 0% increase.

My question to the member from London West: Is a 2.5% increase—10% over four years—a better deal than what the opposition parties have offered?

I appreciate the opportunity to interact with the member from Guelph. His party hasn’t gone through the stresses of having to govern and having these battles with the education unions, so I was wondering if he might be able to offer us his insights on this matter.

When the NDP was in power, they legislated 0%. When the Liberals were in power, they legislated 0%. We are giving the lowest-paid education workers a 10% raise over four years. Is that a better deal than what the other parties have given?