Man alive. When I made this prediction, I had no idea how right it was going to be.
Ford and company, as usual, have made a right mess of things. Also as usual, their tough talk has gotten them where it gets them more often than any government with any sort of clue should ever be ending up. Time to Put on the flip flops and start walking backwards.
Premier Doug Ford says he is willing to repeal his controversial bill overriding Charter rights and return to the bargaining table if CUPE calls off the strike by school support staff.
In an olive branch meant to turn down the heat as workers remain off the job for a second day — shutting down schools in many boards, and amid talk of a general strike one day next week — Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce made the announcement Monday morning as hundreds of education workers protested out front of Queen’s Park.
Ford said the government “as a gesture of good faith” is willing to repeal Bill 28 “but only if CUPE agrees to show a similar gesture of good faith by stopping their strike and letting our kids back into their classrooms.”Students, he added, “don’t deserve to be caught in the middle of these negotiations … for the sake of the students, CUPE please accept this offer. Take strike action off the table and let our kids back in class.”
If I’m CUPE, I say sure, but on one condition. You go first. Repeal the bill and then we’ll get back to work and back to talking. When you’re dealing with a government as disrespectful and dishonest as this one, I’m not sure you can trust it to keep its word and I’m not up for finding out that I’m right again. So for me, this seems like the only way forward. If Ford is truly serious, he should have no problem with that. Then again what I just described is pretty much how negotiating works, and that entire concept is just a bit of a problem area for them these days.
I hope we don’t come to the point of needing a general provincial strike, but if that’s what happens, I absolutely support it. Ford needs to be reminded yet again that he’s not a dictator who can just do whatever he wants up to and including stripping people of their constitutional rights. If that means shutting the whole place down for a few days, then so be it.
And for god’s sake, can we all please learn the lesson we should have learned in 2022 in 2026? Please? I’ll beg if I have to. In the meantime, I do hope that the unions who openly supported Ford last election have learned theirs. It was foolish when you did it and it looks even worse now.
