Wednesday in Question Period, MPP Jack MacLaren (Carleton-Mississippi Mills) questioned Education Minister Sandals on the legality of the government’s payments to teachers’ unions.
“Billion dollar scandals are your government’s specialty – you’re good at it,” said MPP MacLaren. “But it was never right, and it isn’t right today. In fact this time it might not even be legal.”
Section 53 of the Labour Relations Act states that: “an agreement between an employer…and a trade union shall be deemed not to be a collective agreement…if an employer or employers’ organization…contributed financial or other support to the trade union.”
Moreover, Section 70 of the Labour Relations Act states, “no employer…shall…contribute financial or other support to a trade union.”
“It seems clear to me that employers cannot give millions of dollars to unions,” MPP MacLaren added. “It is definitely unethical and it is definitely wrong.”
The lack of transparency surrounding the Liberals’ bargaining payouts to teachers’ unions has raised many questions by the public. Parents may be wondering why money from their child’s classroom was diverted to the teachers’ unions, and taxpayers may be wondering if their money was wasted yet again. With these questions raised related to the Labour Relations Act, it seems the government has even more to answer for.
MPP MacLaren asked, “Mr. Speaker I am not a lawyer, but are the Minister’s payments even legal?”
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