Ontario’s negotiations with teacher unions are bubbling up right when our public finances are deep in the red. Ontario Premier Doug Ford needs to keep the union bosses at bay and keep teachers’ salaries affordable for taxpayers.

Ontario’s four big teacher unions are in talks with the Ministry of Education to hammer out a new contract with the province’s teachers. The old contract is set to expire at the end of the month.

The unions are demanding big pay raises. That’s their job. But it’s the Ford government’s job to represent the taxpayers of Ontario who are struggling with affordability.

Taxpayers can’t afford a bad deal with the big teacher unions when the province’s teachers already have a good deal.

Ontario has some of the best-paid teachers in the country.

Primary and secondary school teachers in Ontario have the highest average annual salary among Canadian provinces at $96,000 and $100,000 respectively.

Ontario’s highest-paid teachers earned $119,900 this year. That’s more money than just about any other teacher in Canada. For context, the average Ontarian made $69,663 last year, according to Statistics Canada.

In the last round of negotiations, the government gave Ontario teachers an 11.25 per cent raise over four years. A teacher who made $106,200 in the 2021-22 school year now makes $119,900.

And many teachers have been moving up the seniority pay scales the past four years. Teachers climbing up the seniority pay scale have gotten up to a $13,700 pay raise since 2022. The average Ontarian has only seen their earnings rise by $7,650 since then.

That doesn’t even account for the generous benefits that teachers get.

Taxpayers pay 100 per cent of the cost for full-time teachers’ health, dental and life insurance benefits — no premium costs for teachers.

These benefits include 100 per cent cost coverage for dental check-ups, X-rays, fillings and root canals. Paramedical services from psychologists, chiropractors, massage therapists and naturopaths are all covered. Vision, prescription drugs and medical supplies are also covered under the benefits package.

The benefits package for teachers cost taxpayers over $2 billion last year, across the province’s 72 school boards.

Teachers also work in a profession that schedules significant time off throughout the year. 

Teachers get a long summer vacation, a two-week Christmas break, March break and more. In total, teachers work 196 days a year while most Ontarians work about 240 to 250 days a year.

And when a teacher decides to finally call it quits, they’re entitled to a generous pension.

Teachers receive a defined benefit pension guaranteed by the government based on the number of years served and their top earnings. The average starting pension is $53,300 a year for former teachers. A teacher who retires with 35 years of experience would currently be eligible for a $72,000 a year pension. 

In short, teachers are well-compensated compared to the average Ontarian.

Another 11.25 pay raise for teachers over four years would cost taxpayers an extra $4.5 billion over the course of the contract and $1.8 billion in its final year alone.

Taxpayers can’t afford to pay another multi-billion-dollar concession to teacher unions. Especially when the provincial government has already been taking a deep debt plunge over the past 20 years.

Ontario government debt stood at $151 billion in 2007. Government debt is now projected to hit $485 billion by the end of this year, more than tripling in two decades.

Debt interest charges will cost taxpayers $17.2 billion this year. That’s about $1,060 for every Ontarian.

When debt interest gets out of control, governments are forced to make tough cuts everywhere in the budget, including in education. The interest costs on the extra $4.5 billion in debt could pay for about 1,600 teachers’ annual salaries.

That’s why the government can’t just hand the teacher unions a blank cheque.

The teacher unions are going to fight hard to further their own interests. But Ford needs to fight harder on behalf of Ontario’s more than 16 million residents. Ford needs to protect Ontario taxpayers by driving a hard bargain with teacher unions to save the province from even more debt.