When Ontario teachers and education workers walk off the job Feb. 21, they’ll hit the bricks with a lot of public support. Since contract talks began, Minister Stephen Lecce and Premier Doug Ford have tried hard to divide workers from their unions and unions from the parents, guardians, and grandparents…
Read more
(La version française se trouve ici) The Association des enseignants et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO) represents French-language elementary and secondary teachers across Ontario. Last December, 97 per cent of AEFO’s members voted in support of strike action. In January, they initiated work-to-rule action. This week they are holding a one-day…
Read more
L’Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO) représente les enseignantes et enseignants et des travailleuses et travailleurs des écoles élémentaires et secondaires franco-ontariennes. En décembre, 97 pour cent des membres de l’AEFO ont voté pour un mandat de grève. En janvier, ils ont débuté une grève du zèle. À…
Read more
In January, I joined more than 6,000 people at the Toronto Convention Centre to hear former U.S. president Barack Obama speak about “the future of work.” Seeing him in person for the first time got me reflecting on the past, and what remains my most impactful Obama moment. I was…
Read more
Previously, we have examined the board-by-board impact of larger class sizes and mandatory e-learning in Ontario schools. One blog estimated the number of teaching positions that will be eliminated in each board as a result of policies approved in Spring 2019; the other blog recalculated figures in response to Education…
Read more
I came of age as an activist and researcher when Mike Harris blustered his way into power in the 90s. His education minister, John Snobelen, famously a high school dropout, was much more comfortable referring to students as “clients,” parents as “customers” and teachers as “front line service providers,” and…
Read more
“Papa, you had a whole decade and this is all you did with it?” Reflecting on the start of the second decade of this millennium, I shudder with heart-sinking shame at the thought of my daughter asking me such a question in January 2030. She will be a few…
Read more
With virtually no prior warning, the Ontario government announced on Monday, December 16—five days ago—that they had cancelled the Hamilton Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, a long-planned 14-km rapid transit line running east-west across Hamilton between McMaster University and Eastgate Square. Adding insult to injury, Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney…
Read more
In the past year and a half, the Ontario government has demanded that Ontarians sacrifice many vital public services to address an alleged fiscal crisis. But in a report released earlier this week, the Financial Accountability Office (FAO) shows that most of the savings from service cuts are not going…
Read more
With winter just getting started in Ontario, spring may seem far away. But sometime around the end of March, the provincial government will table the 2020 Ontario Budget. By now, many Ontarians can recite the government’s talking points by heart. The government says spending is too high, our deficit and…
Read more