The Ontario government’s massive consultations on education showed “virtually no support” for larger class sizes, according to its own internal reports, which it has repeatedly refused to release publicly.

From school boards to students, from Black educators to directors of education, concerns about bigger high school classes and the impact on teens were raised during two rounds of public consultations last year by the province, information that was revealed for the first time on Tuesday at an Ontario Labour Relations Board hearing.

And among the more than 7,000 additional submissions from the public, about 70 per cent were opposed to larger classes — but at the same time, none of them said they supported such a move even if they did support the government saving money, said Tom Doyle, chief negotiator for the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA).

“There is virtually no support, anywhere, for what they are doing,” Doyle told the hearing before labour board Chair Bernard Fishbein, adding emails from the public were “negative” to government changes.

“... Clearly , this consultation has no relevance to the direction the government is taking. They heard from every stakeholder. They heard from the public” and did the opposite of what they were told, added Doyle.

The provincial government and teachers unions are at a standoff, with unions opposing the government’s plans for larger classes and mandatory online learning, among other issues. The government has passed legislation capping wage increases at one per cent annually.

In the legislature Tuesday, before the consultation reports were revealed, Premier Doug Ford said “It’s time. It’s time the unions put the students over politics and compensation, and work with the government to keep these kids in the classroom. We’re protecting full-day kindergarten, maintaining the smallest class sizes in Canada for early years. It’s a fact — the smallest classroom sizes for early years.”

The Catholic teachers’ union launched its complaint with the labour board accusing the government of bargaining in bad faith by announcing high school class size changes — initially moving from an average of 22 to 28, but now boosting them to 25 — and issuing class-size regulations during the negotiating period.

It argues the government “pre-empted” negotiations, violating the labour and school board bargaining acts, as well as the Charter.

Doyle, reading from the two summaries of the consultations — consultations previous education minister Lisa Thompson had boasted were the largest ever and meant to inform policy decisions — said school boards worried about fewer teachers meaning fewer courses and “limiting student achievement and career pathways” for kids.

“This is not a good idea — there is no pedagogy, there is nothing good for education with this. The only acknowledgment in this document is that, yes, raising class size does save money,” he said.

Liz Stuart, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, said the consultations were meaningless.

Her union was at the bargaining table on Monday, but talks ended with no new negotiating dates.

“We postponed strike action” for this week, she added, in anticipation of Monday’s bargaining. “That is no small feat, and no small thing for us to do. The government is always accusing the union of escalating … so we decided to take that step back, and let’s sit and have a discussion without that hanging over everybody and that didn’t work for us, either.”

Harvey Bischof, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, said the government has “wilfully ignored” what it heard from the public.

At the labour board hearing, summaries of the two rounds of consultations were entered into evidence. Copies were not immediately available, but their contents were spoken of at length.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce, and his predecessor Thompson have both refused to release the results of the province’s consultations on everything from class size to curriculum, and which cost almost $1 million.

“I think we know why they refused,” said NDP education critic Marit Stiles. “This is clearly a really strong indictment of the government’s move to increase class size in particular.”

Lecce told reporters on Tuesday that talks broke off with the Catholic teachers because the union insisted on improvements to their benefits packages, and he said the government is sticking to its offers of a one per cent increase on wages annually and one per cent on benefits.

But in a memo to members obtained by the Star, OECTA said “while our preference remains to keep details of discussions at the table, it should be obvious to anyone that Catholic teachers would not be taking strike action over benefits enhancements” and the real issues are supports for needy students, big class sizes and mandatory online learning.

Meanwhile, the AEFO representing teachers in the province’s 12 French boards, has called off its one-day province wide strike on Thursday because of expected bad weather.

The union returns to the bargaining table Friday.

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Lecce spokesperson Alexandra Adamo, said “our government is firmly committed to keeping students in class and listening to the voices of parents. That is why we are committed to keeping class sizes low, including maintaining the lowest class sizes in the nation for the early years.”

She also said “we have provided certainty by protecting full-day kindergarten in writing,” as teacher unions have sought.

“Our government’s priority is investing more in our students and in our classrooms. We will continue to be reasonable, however it is unreasonable that unions continue to hold up a deal on the basis of enhancing already-generous wages and benefits that the taxpayer cannot afford.”