Even as high school teachers protested Ontario’s Liberal government during the party’s leadership race, their union leaders were pumping money into the coffers of most of the candidates.

Maybe that’s “just politics,” but rank-and-file teachers have a right to be confused, or even upset. The Toronto local of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation has been playing both sides of the street, quietly donating $30,000 to four candidates’ campaigns.

There’s a message here for parents, too: When thousands of high school students are losing after-school activities, the campaign donations hidden behind noisy public protests are fresh evidence that their kids are being treated as pawns in a sophisticated game.

Doug Jolliffe, president of the federation’s Toronto District 12 (the union’s largest bargaining unit, representing 6,000 high school teachers) confirmed that his union wrote cheques to the Toronto candidates in December in support of their “progressive” politics. “We felt that the Liberal party had gone off on a path that we didn’t agree with and that these people had the potential to move it back … to a more successful centre-left party,” Jolliffe explained.

The union gave $10,000 each to the campaigns of Premier-designate Kathleen Wynne and former minister Eric Hoskins. It directed $5,000 each to the campaigns of Gerard Kennedy and Glen Murray (who dropped out before the convention to support Wynne).

The donations to Hoskins and Kennedy are now public, listed on the Elections Ontario website. The others don’t yet appear because Elections Ontario isn’t required to publish donations until 20 business days after the cheques are cashed.

Now that the union’s back-channel Liberal support strategy has been outed by transparency rules, it’s time to send a message to the supporting players in this wearisome drama — the teachers.

It’s time to take a step back and cool off. For all its fiery rhetoric, your union blows hot and cold with the politicians. While some say that’s just the way it works, the entire process is hurting the students.

There’s nothing illegal about the donations, perhaps even nothing improper. But it’s a cynical approach — especially when the same union demanded that teachers withdraw their involvement in students’ sports, chess clubs and theatre productions because of anger at the Liberals’ approach to contract talks. The four candidates criticized that approach, but only Kennedy promised to reopen contracts imposed on the teachers under Bill 115.

In high schools, where teachers are obliged to follow union directives, many students rely on their extra-curriculars as a means of getting through tough adolescent years. For some, especially those from under-privileged homes, a vibrant after-school life can make a difference between failure and success. It’s a shame to see their opportunities disappear.

Right now, the system is in chaos, entirely dependent on whether teachers are still listening to their union and withholding after-school activities.

When teachers appeal for public support by denouncing the Liberals and Bill 115 as an affront to democracy, let’s remember that their Toronto local is playing an old-fashioned political game. Now that we know how generous the union was with Liberal candidates, including those who were in cabinet when Bill 115 was passed, it’s even more of a pity that they can’t extend a similar kindness to students.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Read more about: