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The premier said he would be in discussions with families on how best to honour those lost, specifically the 34 of the 57 with a connection to an Ontario post-secondary education.

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Now, while Ford was there to talk about education in terms of scholarships, most of the questions he faced were about the rotating strikes hitting elementary and high schools across the province.

Would he offer more money in terms of raises to teachers? No. Would he consider back-to-work legislation? Yes. Will he change his mind on implementing online learning? Not a chance.

“No,” Ford said bluntly when asked if he would go higher for teacher raises.

“You know something, we can’t have rules for the heads of the unions that represent the teachers, and rules for everyone else in the province.”

And that is especially true in education.

Two education sector unions have already agreed to deals that include a 1% raise. Bizarrely, if one of the education unions gets a higher raise, that raise gets implemented across the board with all the unions. That’s something Ontario can’t afford.

High school teachers in the public and Catholic systems have said they will not accept online learning being implemented in Ontario’s schools. The province had said it would require students entering Grade 9 this September to complete four online courses by the time they graduate, something that has been reduced two courses over four years.