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Is it normal for a government to pay public-sector unions for the time they spend negotiating contracts? Would it perhaps make more sense for unions to cover costs so intrinsic to their function using, say, their members’ dues? These are very Ontarian questions.

We learned recently that the province’s governing Liberals doled out $2.5 million to three teachers’ unions to cover expenses during the summer’s negotiations — food, meeting rooms and hotels, presumably, but receipts were neither requested nor provided. And a remarkable percentage of the fallout has centred on that question: was it “normal”?

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Deputy Premier Deb Matthews said she wasn’t aware of such payouts happening in negotiations under her purview. Premier Kathleen Wynne said it’s standard practice — though past payouts to teachers seem to have been considerably smaller. Education Minister Liz Sandals said she would “make no apologies” for the payout, but it won’t happen in future — a new collective bargaining structure necessitated “extraordinary” arrangements this time around, she said. And then she accused the opposition of doing the thing for which she would make no apologies.