Last week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford launched the constitutional equivalent of a nuclear first strike on public-sector unions. And then, facing a predictable and equally extreme union counterstrike – public schools mostly closed; an economy-wide general strike on tap – he abruptly reversed course.
As one labour leader put it on Monday at a celebratory press conference, Mr. Ford “blinked.” He sure did. He offered what diplomats trying to end a war refer to as a return to the “status quo ante” – things as they were before the shooting started. The government promised to repeal the legislation that used the notwithstanding clause to impose a contract; the union representing 55,000 education workers agreed to end its strike so negotiations can resume.
