what a crooked fukkin' crooked.
The Ontario government did not see receipts for the expenses of three teachers’ unions before secretly paying them $2.5-million to cover their costs during contract talks.
Education Minister Liz Sandals said on Thursday there are no itemized accounts of exactly what the taxpayers’ $2.5-million financed.
“You’re asking me if I have receipts and invoices. No, I don’t,” Ms. Sandals told reporters when asked if there was any accounting for the expenses.
Ms. Sandals said she was satisfied $2.5-million was reasonable based on her own knowledge of bargaining expenses. The unions had to spend money for their officials to travel to meetings in Toronto, stay in hotels and eat pizza during negotiating sessions, she said.
“We know what hotel rooms cost, we know what meeting rooms cost, we know what the food costs, we know what 100 pizzas cost,” she said. “You don’t need to see every bill when you’re doing an estimate of costs. I don’t ask.”
The government handed $1-million each to the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, plus $500,000 to the smaller Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens as part of labour deals reached in August. The province’s fourth teachers’ union, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, said it has not received any payment and would not accept one.
The secret payments came to light this week, after The Globe and Mail obtained copies of the government’s confidential deals with OSSTF and OECTA.
The money, the agreements said, was meant to defray the cost to the unions of collective bargaining. The government said it agreed to the payments because a new bargaining system Ms. Sandals brought in last year made the talks longer and more complicated than before.
The deals do not contain any itemization to account for extra bargaining expenses.
Critics say it makes no sense for taxpayers to cover unions’ negotiating costs, given that members pay dues for such things.
OSSTF and OECTA have said the payments did not cover all their bargaining expenses. Neither union released the total amount of bargaining costs.
The government has also revealed that it paid teacher unions in contract talks in 2004, 2008 and 2012 to defray their expenses. But Ms. Sandals and her office refused to say how much or to which unions.
In Question Period on Thursday, Premier Kathleen Wynne refused to say how much the government paid when asked by Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown.
“Will the Premier answer two simple questions?” Mr. Brown said. “How much money did she pay the unions and their associations for their bargaining costs? Number two: Where did that money come from? A direct question. Please answer.”
Ms. Wynne instead took shots at the PC government of the 1990s.
Ontario government has no receipts for $2.5-million paid to teachers’ unions - The Globe and Mail
The Ontario government did not see receipts for the expenses of three teachers’ unions before secretly paying them $2.5-million to cover their costs during contract talks.
Education Minister Liz Sandals said on Thursday there are no itemized accounts of exactly what the taxpayers’ $2.5-million financed.
“You’re asking me if I have receipts and invoices. No, I don’t,” Ms. Sandals told reporters when asked if there was any accounting for the expenses.
Ms. Sandals said she was satisfied $2.5-million was reasonable based on her own knowledge of bargaining expenses. The unions had to spend money for their officials to travel to meetings in Toronto, stay in hotels and eat pizza during negotiating sessions, she said.
“We know what hotel rooms cost, we know what meeting rooms cost, we know what the food costs, we know what 100 pizzas cost,” she said. “You don’t need to see every bill when you’re doing an estimate of costs. I don’t ask.”
The government handed $1-million each to the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, plus $500,000 to the smaller Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens as part of labour deals reached in August. The province’s fourth teachers’ union, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, said it has not received any payment and would not accept one.
The secret payments came to light this week, after The Globe and Mail obtained copies of the government’s confidential deals with OSSTF and OECTA.
The money, the agreements said, was meant to defray the cost to the unions of collective bargaining. The government said it agreed to the payments because a new bargaining system Ms. Sandals brought in last year made the talks longer and more complicated than before.
The deals do not contain any itemization to account for extra bargaining expenses.
Critics say it makes no sense for taxpayers to cover unions’ negotiating costs, given that members pay dues for such things.
OSSTF and OECTA have said the payments did not cover all their bargaining expenses. Neither union released the total amount of bargaining costs.
The government has also revealed that it paid teacher unions in contract talks in 2004, 2008 and 2012 to defray their expenses. But Ms. Sandals and her office refused to say how much or to which unions.
In Question Period on Thursday, Premier Kathleen Wynne refused to say how much the government paid when asked by Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown.
“Will the Premier answer two simple questions?” Mr. Brown said. “How much money did she pay the unions and their associations for their bargaining costs? Number two: Where did that money come from? A direct question. Please answer.”
Ms. Wynne instead took shots at the PC government of the 1990s.
Ontario government has no receipts for $2.5-million paid to teachers’ unions - The Globe and Mail
John Groves @jfgroves 
