An Ontario court awarded elementary teachers $103.1 million in remediation for Bill 115 yesterday. The bill, which was passed by former Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Ontario Liberal government in 2012, forced contracts on teachers and staff and froze their pay. Courts determined it to be a violation of collective bargaining rights, resulting in yesterday's ruling. This award brings the total remediation to $213 million when factoring in prior rulings in favour of high school teachers and staff. When the Liberal government moved forward with this legislation a decade ago, labour leaders predicted this day would come. It was an obviously unjust piece of legislation meant to limit earnings and bypass the right of Ontarians to collective bargaining. 

Bill 115 was disrespectful to teachers and staff and expressed exactly how the government undervalued their contributions to our education system. We all witnessed educators pivot at the start of the pandemic and do incredible work to deliver the best experience possible under very difficult circumstances. When they did return to the classroom, they did so without the investments and support needed to keep themselves and their families safe. They've sacrificed over and over again for the benefit of students, opposing cuts that resulted in exploding class sizes. Instead of respect, the Wynne government turned their backs and refused to fix the injustices of Bill 115, or apologize for their mistakes. Even worse, they laid the groundwork for the Premier to expose nurses and health care workers to the very same unfair treatment.

Fast forward to the current day, and we see the Ford government using Bill 124 to restrict the rights of health care workers and limit their ability to negotiate a fair wage. These workers are also opposing this harmful bill in courts, and we should expect that the end result will be no different. In a few short years, the government will be found to have violated their collective bargaining rights, and remediation will have to be paid. It doesn't have to be this way. The government can stop interfering and respect nurses by repealing Bill 124  now. We can avoid the mistakes of the past, and costly remediation in the future. It requires a government that views the labour of teachers and nurses alike as valuable and important. We need to treat these heroes like partners, not adversaries. Our province will be much better off when we begin to treat the workers of this province with the respect they deserve.