Provincial Education Minister Stephen Lecce provided his speaking notes following the breakdown in negotiations between Ontario and CUPE representing educational workers.
The union now sits preparing to withdrawal services tomorrow which will shutter some schools and limit programs at ones that remain open.
In the notes Minister Lecce says that they have promised to do whatever it takes to keep students in class.
That after demanding a nearly 50 percent increase in compensation, the union then threatened to strike.
He adds that the Province has been at the table, right up to the last minute, where he says the Province made good faith efforts to reach a fair deal.
But all along CUPE refused to take strikes and disruptions off the table, even today.
This, for the sake of Ontario’s two million students, Lecce said, to keep classrooms open they had no choice but to pass the Keeping Students in Class Act.
He finishes his statement by saying that he wanted to make one thing clear, if CUPE continues wit their strike they will be breaking the law.
