Elementary teachers’ union endorses NDP ahead of Ontario election

TORONTO — Ontario’s governing Liberals, who are trailing behind the Opposition Progressive Conservatives in the polls, took aim at the NDP today as the third party was endorsed by a teachers’ union.

The Liberals issued a statement raising questions about NDP candidate Marco Coletta, who they suggest advocates for a 15 per cent reduction to teacher salaries in the province.

The tactic is one the Liberals have used repeatedly in recent weeks against candidates running for the Progressive Conservatives, including former Tory candidate and social conservative Tanya Granic-Allen, who was later turfed from the party roster.

Speaking at a campaign event at a Toronto hospital, Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne said Coletta’s views are reminiscent of the NDP’s 2014 platform, in which she contends education was not a high priority.

She also said that the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario backing the NDP does not mean teachers themselves will vote that way.

“We haven’t always had, as a party, the full support of all of the unions or the federations … and individual teachers make their decisions on a riding by riding basis,” she said.

Wynne also attacked the NDP for a perceived disdain for the private sector and repeated an earlier suggestion that the party has not explained how it would implement its platform.

“The plan that we’re bringing forward, which is an investment in care in this province, is doable. What our plan does is it recognizes, unlike the NDP, that the whole economy is important,” she said. “I understand that there’s an ideology on the part of the NDP that says that the private sector is inherently not a good thing. I don’t adhere to that.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she isn’t aware of Coletta’s comments and said teachers would be “properly paid” for the work they do under an NDP government.

Numerous polls have shown building momentum for Horwath and the NDP.

The president of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario said the NDP earned the union’s endorsement because of its commitment to publicly funded education.

Horwath has promised to end standardized testing of students if elected, something the teachers’ union supports.

Teachers have had a strained relationship with the governing Liberals for years following a bitter contract dispute with former premier Dalton McGuinty in 2012.

Ontario heads to the polls June 7.