Ontario Premier Doug Ford was staring down a gathering storm of indefinite school closures, a new law nobody obeyed and warnings of widespread, economy-disrupting work stoppages when he decided last weekend that there was only one way out.
On Sunday afternoon, Ford, his top advisers and his education minister got on the phone and hashed out their plan – in an escalating labour dispute with education workers, the government had to back down first.
“There were no other options left,” a senior government source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the process publicly.