“It has always been obvious why the Ford government was trying so hard to hide these results. Ontarians clearly reject the government’s education agenda, and with good reason. While the government claims to be listening to parents and the public, almost every decision they have made regarding our world-class publicly funded education system has been driven by an ideological agenda to cut spending and demonize educators. There is no small irony in the fact that a government supposedly committed to transparency and the bottom line has wasted so much time and resources on these sham ‘consultations.’

It is also not surprising that the Ford government continues to misrepresent the issues and mislead Ontarians. The proposal for a secondary class size average of 25 students would still be a massive increase over what was in place last year, and two mandatory e-learning credits would still be two too many. There is nothing reasonable about these positions, and it is incredibly disrespectful of the government to continue pretending otherwise.

Ontarians have had enough of this government’s games and spin. It is well past time for Premier Ford and Minister Lecce to start taking these matters seriously. Catholic teachers call on the government to immediately release the full ‘consultation’ results, and to abandon their reckless cuts to publicly funded education once and for all.”

Liz Stuart, President of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association