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This week, Laurel Broten, Ontario’s Minister of Education decided to pit younger, inexperienced, and under-employed teachers, against veteran teachers that are firmly ensconced in the system.

Broten announced that the government intends to make a regulation that would ensure “fair hiring practices” are applied in every school board in the province, implying that it’s somehow unfair now.

Retired teachers, who are re-employed, as occasional teachers, will only be allowed to work 50 days, down from 95 days in past years. This “new rule” was actually announced two years ago, but Ms. Broten chose to unveil it now because it isn’t slated come into effect until the new school year. When asked what he thought of the announcement, Allen Small, Leader of the Ontario Libertarian Party said: “Teachers that have been retired more than three years were allowed to work occasionally for only 20 days without affecting their pension. Now they can work 50 days. I don’t see how that helps today’s young teachers, who are going to compete with the bulk of retirees now allowed to work 30 more days.” 

Broten also announced a 1.5% salary cut for all teachers, so that money can be used to pay for junior teachers to advance through the salary grid at the same time as they are getting a pay cut.

By manipulating one group of teachers against another simply to assure budgets are restrained, the government seems to be neglecting the ultimate purpose of the education system. Deputy Party Leader and Libertarian candidate in the Vaughan by-election, Paolo Fabrizio asked: “How does this make education better in Ontario? There is no incentive to make veteran teachers work hard, they are being told to be happy with what they have, and by-the-way we’re cutting your salary.”  

Ontario Libertarians believe that our education system is not there just to provide employment to teachers and administrators, rather, its there to provide the best possible education for Ontario’s young people. That will only happen when teachers and schools are allowed to compete on their ability to produce well-educated students. Libertarians believe that seniority is not necessarily a measure of ability, and homogenizing the school system across a huge province, by manipulating hiring practices does not allow for excellence. 

The Ontario Libertarian Party has been a registered political party since 1975. We advocate property rights, limited government, and voluntary interactions within communities between individuals and groups.

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