The normally staid annual meeting of Ontario’s elementary teachers’ union turned into a rowdy election rally today for Education Minister Kathleen Wynne, with union officials calling for her to trounce Conservative Leader John Tory in one of the most fierce battles of the upcoming provincial election.
"We at the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario will do whatever we can to ensure she continues to be the minister this time next year," said outgoing federation president Emily Noble before a ballroom of 500 grade school teachers from across the province.
"This is an education minister whose heart is in the right place - in a government that believes in publicly funded education. We’re absolutely encouraging members to elect a Liberal government. This government has been positive for teachers and for education."
"With your help I can defeat John Tory in Don Valley West," said Wynne, in a talk that sounded like a pep talk to the party faithful.
"With your help, we can re-elect a Liberal government to Queen’s Park that believes in public education."
Niagara Falls teacher Sharon Aloian said she was comfortable with the meeting’s election buzz and sharp partisan edge.
"When you have a premier who calls himself the Education Premier, and you’re a teacher - how can we not work to keep them in office?"
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Teachers Union Favours Liberals Over NDP
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario may have invited both NDP leader Howard Hampton and Liberal Education minister Kathleen Wynne to address their annual meeting, but the Liberals got all the love. The party-union relationship continues to crumble for the NDP. Firefighters, Building Trades unions and teachers are firmly in the Liberal camp. Expect the CAW to endorse McGuinty and the Liberals in the coming weeks. From the Star:
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4 comments:
Okay... this is misleading because ETFO (not all teachers, just ETFO) is backing Kathleen Wynne in her riding, because she is running against John Tory himself.
I am an ETFO member and I know for a fact that ETFO backs candidates on a person by person basis. They are backing NDP candidates in some ridings, while they are backing Liberals in others. This was not a blanket statement of teacher support for the Liberals. This was one union out of 4 in Ontario supporting one candidate against the PC leader.
You can search for a silver-lining all you want, but teachers unions give more money to the Liberals than to the NDP, endorse more Liberals than New Democrats, and have basically called for the McGuinty government to be re-elected. Although ETFO is just one union, you can rest assured the rest will follow the same path.
I'm not searching for silver linings, I'm just stating the facts. All this proves is that ETFO supports candidates who support their views, and the NDP and Liberals both do to some degree or another.
I'm not here to gloat. I'm here to say I've always said after Hargrove's support of Martin that it wouldnt necessarily be a bad thing if the public perceived the NDP was distancing itself from unions.
I think in the long run it expands your NDP voting base.. because whether you like it or not, the "stigma" of being associated with unions and perceived as being in their pockets has long followed the NDP around - unfairly or not. Remove that, and more people might perceive the NDP as the "grassroots party" rather then the "union party".
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