There are very few veterans from World War II with us today. We will remember the sacrifices they made to protect our freedoms and rights on Friday at the cemetery. Even the veterans of the Korean War are very few. Today we remember younger generations who served in Cypress, the Congo, Kosovo, Serbia, and Afghanistan and who train soldiers for Latvia and Ukraine. Those veterans have all contributed to human rights and freedoms in Canada and around the world.
But we watched an Ontario Conservative government lead by Doug Ford trample on the Canadian Rights and Charter of Freedoms. The Charter has two important parts that come into play. The first is the right to negotiate and strike. The second offers the government “The not withstanding Clause” that permits a government to opt out of the charter and overrule sections of the charter. Many of those veterans of wars fighting for Canadian Rights and Freedoms would be appalled at the Ontario Conservative government’s action.
The provincial government’s decision to deny 55,000 CUPE workers who are early childhood educators, support staff and caretakers the right to strike led them to walk off the job last Friday and the walkout continued into this week. In many instances, schools have been closed, and have left families scrambling to find ways to look after their school age children. Online learning has begun again much to the horror of students, parents, and teachers. Many parents have been forced to take time away from their jobs to supervise their children’s time at home and online learning. That has impacted many other public and private workplaces.
Unfortunately, students are caught in the middle of this disagreement.
The Canadian Rights and Freedoms guaranteeing the right to negotiate and to strike for fair wages and benefits is also caught in this struggle. The government has other options than using the notwithstanding clause of the Charter. It could have passed ordering the workers back to work and agreeing on binding arbitration as has been used in past struggles.
Using the notwithstanding clause may also affect other upcoming negotiations of provincially funded workplaces.
It was good news that both the Union and the Government stepped back from the brinkmanship. After the Union received written guarantee from the Premier that the government would withdraw Bill 28, the CUPE Union agreed to end the strike and return to the negotiating table.
