This past Tuesday we were finally able to witness the men and women elected to represent Ontarians return to Queen’s Park to do the work they were sent there to do.
Whether or not they do that work remains to be seen. The cynics out there could probably make a good case that actual work progresses at a snail’s pace.
But in the spirit of optimism, we give the benefit of the doubt that the provincial legislature will be able to tackle the many challenges the province faces.
Among them is ending the fight the government picked with the teachers’ unions of Ontario, and convincing those teachers to step back into their roles as coaches, theatre directors and supervisors for the wealth of extracurricular activities our youth have learned to expect as part of their education experience.
The current boycott of extracurricular activities looks poised to last for the full two years of the imposed teachers’ contracts, and we have to acknowledge that throughout the action, everyone is poorer for it, including our educational institutions, the teachers’ esteem, and the futures of the students.
Both sides – the government and the unions – need to acknowledge a lot of water has run under the bridge since the early recall of the legislature in August of last year. The bitter history of those failed negotiations and political machinations needs to be left well behind. If the teachers want to go after the Liberal Party of Ontario for the shabby treatment of the past year, that is their prerogative. But at this point, for the sake of the goodwill of Ontarians, they should plan to have their say along with every other citizen who has a beef with government – at the ballot boxes. That’s what they are there for.