Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he spoke with Ontario education unions on Friday morning as they participated in what the province calls an “illegal” strike and reiterated that he was ” extremely concerned” about the use of the notwithstanding clause to impose a contract on workers.
Trudeau made the comments while speaking in North York about his government’s GST credits for families.
“It’s a very, very serious thing to suspend people’s basic rights and freedoms,” he said. “The proactive use of the notwithstanding clause is in fact an attack on people’s fundamental rights and, in this case, is an attack on one of the most fundamental rights available, that of collective bargaining.”
“I think there are a lot of people, a lot of parents like me, who have children in Ontario schools who are concerned about the strikes, but I can tell you that all parents, all parents, should be extremely concerned about the suspension of our most basic rights and freedoms.
He added that the federal government was considering “all options” to protect those freedoms; however, he didn’t go into detail about what those options might be.
This is not the first time that Trudeau has spoken out against Bill 28, Ontario law passed Thursday which uses the notwithstanding clause to override sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to make it illegal for workers to strike.
The bill also provides for a four-year contract for the 55,000 members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which includes janitors, administrative staff and education support workers.
Earlier this week, Trudeau called Ontario Premier Doug Ford and told him his use of the notwithstanding clause was “erroneous and inappropriate.”
The notwithstanding clause is part of section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and gives provincial governments the power to override certain parts of the Charter for a period of five years.
Ford, for its part, used the clause quite generously. He first threatened to use it in 2018 to cut Toronto City Council seats in a municipal election, then invoked it to reinstate parts of the election finance law in 2021.
In the case of Bill 38, the Ford government argues that it is necessary to keep schools open and avoid disruption for children.
“The outrage we are seeing right now across the country over this latest use (of the notwithstanding clause), building on previous uses that I have consistently condemned, I think now is the time for all Canadians to reflect and say, ‘yeah, our fundamental rights must not be taken away by governments who want to get things done in the simplest and most efficient way possible at the expense of people’s fundamental freedoms,’ Trudeau added on Friday. .
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces that GST credits will be available to families on Friday, November 4, 2022 at the Dennis Timbrell Community Center in North York, Ontario. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin
Ontario is also asking that the strike and the actions of the union leaders be deemed illegal by the Ontario Labor Relations Board.
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