Lambton Kent Middlesex MPP Monte McNaughton is weighing in on yesterday’s student protests.
Hundreds of Chatham-Kent high school students joined tens of thousands of others across the province, walking out of class mid-afternoon to voice their concerns with cuts and changes to Ontario’s education system.
McNaughton says unions using students as pawns is nothing new.
“I think this is about union leaders and their jobs and their own agenda versus what’s best for parents and our kids,” McNaughton says. “Schools should be a place for learning, not for pushing agendas.”
McNaughton says he remembers being in school when there were walkouts in the Mike Harris government days, he says he stayed in his seat and focused on his studies.
Meantime, a new report says the Ontario government is planning to eliminate thousands of teaching jobs.
More than 3,400 teaching jobs will vanish over the next four years, although government officials say the losses will come mainly through attrition and retirement.
The move is expected to save the government $851-million.