Premier Kathleen Wynne says giving teacher unions millions of taxpayer dollars for negotiating contracts with the province is just the cost of doing business.

Wynne told the Star Friday she doesn’t like the idea or the optics of turning over $2.5 million — no receipts required — to cover the unions’ expenses for things like hotel rooms and so on but says that’s the way it’s done, even in the private sector.

“I understand that in isolation that’s a big number . . . but there is a cost associated with getting those agreements,” said Wynne in a wide-ranging interview.

The Wynne government has found itself squarely at the centre of a maelstrom after this payoff was reported earlier this week by the Globe and Mail. The government has chalked it up to a time-consuming new collective bargaining system.

“I wish that it didn’t cost the public purse that kind of money . . . but no matter … whether it’s in education, whether it’s in health, whether it’s in the private sector, whether it’s in broadcasting there is a cost associated with negotiation,” she said.

A former CAW negotiator told the Star it is not unheard of for private companies to cover all or part of the cost of a union’s expenses associated directly with negotiating a contract.

The province paid $1 million each to the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, plus $500,000 to AEFO, which represents francophone teachers. The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario has yet to reach a contract agreement.

“The collective bargaining process takes time and people are paid to do it. That’s the reality,” Wynne said.

An email from the Education Minister Liz Sandals released late Friday afternoon said this kind of expense has been in place since 2008. Since then $3.741 million has been paid out to teacher unions.

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown called Wynne’s bargaining deadline a “distraction” from the controversy surrounding the payouts.

“This two-tier bargaining disaster has resulted in the Wynne Liberals ‎using more than $3.7 million of taxpayer dollars to pay teachers’ unions for costs incurred in negotiations,” Brown said Thursday. “Parents and students deserve to know what education programs this government had to divert money from in order to make these payments but the government refuses to answer.

“The Wynne . . . government continues to show a lack of respect for taxpayer dollars and complete negligence in ensuring that our province’s education system puts students first. Just like the gas plants and eHealth, this government keeps forcing taxpayers to pay for their mistakes and mismanagement.”

When the premier is not fighting with teachers and doctors about their pay, she is thinking about all the money she hopes prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau government is going to transfer to Ontario. Wynne was a big Trudeau booster long before his Liberals won power on Oct. 19.

“We are going to be looking for an investment to support the initiatives that we are taking. That’s immediate. That’s going to be one of the first things we talk about,” she said.

Among Trudeau’s campaign promises, he pledged to spend $60 billion more than the Conservatives on transit and green projects over the next 10 years. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has estimated that Canada’s municipal infrastructure deficit is $123 billion and growing by $2 billion annually.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s spring budget spelled out a massive 10-year, $130-billion infrastructure plan — in part fuelled by selling off 60 per cent of Hydro One. Wynne hopes to raise $9 billion, $4 billion to help bankroll transit infrastructure and the remaining $5 billion to pay down the company’s debt.

Wynne said Trudeau has promised that within 90 days of being elected he will sit down with the country’s premiers and territorial leaders. Outgoing Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper last attended a first ministers’ conference in 2009.

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

Wynne emphasized “the very first thing that we are going to be looking for is a partnership on climate change as we go to Paris to the UN Climate Summit. It is very important for Canada’s reputation in the world to have a national leader standing with the sub nationals — the province and territorial leaders — in understanding that climate change is the biggest challenge that we face in our time.”

Wynne conceded the economic outlook for the province is somewhat bleak across the country but is convinced Ontario can weather the storm given the province has a more diverse economy.

“We’ve got our challenges but Ontario is placed differently than a province like Alberta . . . so it is our responsibility to do what we can to foster that growth,” she said, explaining part of that is restraining costs, such as keeping wages down for teachers and doctors.

“That’s why those (contract) discussions are so difficult because we are not putting new money into compensation . . . but if we don’t restrain those costs then we don’t eliminate the deficit (by 2017-18),” the premier said.

Read more about: