N.S. premier promises to ‘bring an end’ to teachers dispute

HALIFAX (CP) — Nova Scotia’s premier is turning again to a legislative hammer to try to settle the ongoing contract dispute with the province’s 9,300 public school teachers, but the union’s president warns the move will only escalate tensions.

Premier Stephen McNeil has recalled the legislature for an emergency session on Monday “to bring an end” to the long-simmering standoff between the province and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union.

After three failed tentative agreements, it is clear that negotiations have reached “an impasse,” McNeil said in a statement Saturday.

“I want to assure Nova Scotians that I have done considerable soul searching. We will table legislation that will bring an end to this dispute as soon as possible.”

The move comes two days after the teachers rejected another contract offer on Thursday.

Union president Liette Doucet said in a statement Saturday that the premier’s announcement showed his consistent “lack of respect” for collective bargaining rights.

“It’s clear that Premier McNeil knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing,” Doucet said. “A legislated contract will do nothing to improve the state of our schools and will only further erode the trust between teachers and this government.”

It’s not the first time the government has flexed its muscles to try to end the impasse.

In early December, the government closed schools on two days’ notice as it called an emergency session of the legislature to impose a contract as the teachers started a work to rule campaign. The legislative manoeuvre was scuttled by internal dissent within the Liberal caucus. The government reversed itself and said the union had addressed its safety concerns amid a disagreement over exactly what had been discussed.

Leaders of both provincial opposition parties issued statements Saturday condemning McNeil for his handling of the matter.

“Recalling the legislature is an admission of failure by Premier McNeil,” Progressive Conservative Jamie Baillie said. “Students, parents and teachers are fed up with his willful blindness to the needs of modern classrooms. They no longer trust Stephen McNeil to manage our children’s futures.”