DOUG FORD’S EDUCATION MINISTER SPARS WITH CATHOLIC, FRENCH TEACHERS’ UNIONS OVER BLAME FOR LAGGING CONTRACT TALKS

Ontario’s Catholic teachers’ union says it wants to book a full week of negotiations, rather than a day or two at a time, to help land a deal.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce, however, called the delay in getting a contract “unacceptable” when the province has already reached agreements with other teachers’ unions.

While talks continue, René Jansen in de Wal, president of the 45,000-member Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), said they are “painstakingly slow.”