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Why the Ontario teachers’ unions are on the warpath
About three weeks ago, I blogged about the Ontario Conservatives’ apparent hope that their bland education policy would appease the province’s teachers’ unions and ward off their usual anti-Conservative political activities during the election campaign. In light of the fact that the election is the Conservatives’ to lose, I wondered whether the teachers’ unions would take the bait and start building bridges to the Conservative Party.
In this column in the Toronto Sun, former education minister John Snobelen reveals that the answer to this question is a resounding no - and the reason doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the education file, which may or may not have contained enough soothing promises to call off the attack dogs. However, the Conservative labour file - with its promises of secret ballots in certification votes and the prohbition of unions using their members’ dues to support unpalatable political causes - makes the Conservatives’ insipid education policies irrelevant. There is no way that any union in the province of Ontario is going to back off now.
Now, I just want to make a little disclaimer here about the rest of John Snobelen’s column. I’m a little sensitive by now about being called a teacher basher (even though I used to be one and some of my best friends are teachers). Read my lips: I’m not endorsing Mr. Snobelen’s sentiments - I’m just reporting the facts here.