Ontario education minister to speak at 2 p.m. ET as government moves anti-strike legislation
CBC
Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce is set to speak with reporters on Monday, hours after announcing the government is bringing in legislation to block education workers from striking if a deal isn't reached by the end of this week.
CBC News is carrying Lecce's remarks live at 2 p.m. ET and you'll be able to watch them above.
On Sunday, education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) gave the required five days' notice for job action, positioning 55,000 workers — including educational assistants, custodians and early childhood educators, but not teachers — to go on full strike as early as Friday.
Several Ontario school boards have said they will shut down schools if support staff withdraw their services.
The anti-strike legislation bound for Queen's Park on Monday would block that job action, but it's unclear for how long.
The government and education workers returned to the bargaining table Sunday afternoon but there doesn't appear to have been any progress since.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.