Premier McGuinty has recalled the Ontario Legislature, for tomorrow, to consider a bill to end the longest strike in Canadian university history, following the mediator’s report that the differences between the CUPE and the university are irreconcilable.
A Sunday afternoon session may be an effective pressure tactic to get rapid passage of the legislation. The Liberals and Progressive Conservatives will be on-side, but will the NDP allow unanimous consent for a one-day session? And will the hopped-up CUPE leaders permit a peaceful return to work and classes under a legislated settlement which will likely refer the parties to binding arbitration? Whatever the outcome, 2008/09 will not have been a year that York students will ever recall with fondness or a sense that their lives were made better by spending it at York.
