TORONTO – The Ontario government is attempting to close an ugly round of bargaining as it restarts talks with the only remaining teachers’ union without a contract, and an expert says the COVID-19 pandemic may create a path to labour peace.
University of Toronto professor and former deputy education minister Charles Pascal says the unprecedented crisis, and the dramatic response that has altered daily life, have also changed the tone coming from the government.
Pascal said Premier Doug Ford’s government has abandoned the inflammatory rhetoric and divisive public bargaining it had engaged in with the province’s teachers’ unions since last summer, focusing instead on calm, clear pandemic response.