Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his government will work with teacher unions to avoid a strike in the fall — but accused them of wanting a fight.“I think before the ink was even dry on election day, they declared war on us — the unions, not the teachers,” Ford told reporters at an event at a high-tech automotive system manufacturer in Markham Tuesday morning, where he and Economic Development Minister Todd Smith touted the provincial budget that was unveiled last week. “I think the world of teachers — we have great teachers in this province,” said Ford, before noting they’d gone on strike in recent years under NDP, PC and Liberal governments.“There is a pattern,” he added. “They strike every single government that’s in there. Let me tell you, the teachers’ union, they have to get together with the times here.”Ford also said that going forward, teacher contracts will not expire at the end of August. “I’m going to do everything in our power to make sure this doesn’t happen,” he said, when asked about the possibility of a teacher strike. However, he added, “isn’t it amazing how the previous government and the union set a date of Aug. 31, right before the kids go back to school? I can tell you that’s never going to happen again under our watch, after we get through this.”He later said “all the union wants to do is fight, and we don’t want to fight with them, we want to get the kids in the classroom in September and give them a better education.”The PC government is increasing the education budget over the next three years — largely because of increasing enrolment and child-care rebates — and Ford reiterated his promise that no teachers will be laid off because as a result of a plan to boost class sizes. “I think it’s a pretty good deal that they have right now,” he added. “They get th ...
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