Ford Government Fails the Assignment on Education Yet Again

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

11 March 2026

QUEEN’S PARK, ON. — Today, MPP John Fraser, Ontario Liberal Interim Leader and Critic for Education, issued the following statement regarding Doug Ford’s decision to fire teachers in Peel and paper over it with purchase cards for elementary school teachers:

This announcement is lipstick on a pig. Class sizes are still too big, special education is starved of resources, and the growing mental health crisis in our schools is being ignored. On the same day we learn Doug Ford is firing hundreds of teachers in Peel, he’s trying to distract with something that should have been properly funded years ago.

Forgive me if I’m not excited about Doug Ford announcing something he should have already been doing for the last eight years. It is obvious that he didn’t understand the assignment, he’s handed it in late and incomplete.

Doug Ford and Paul Calandra handing out $750 purchase cards to elementary teachers doesn’t fix eight years of damage they’ve done to Ontario classrooms.

Ontarians know how this government operates. Doug Ford took over the Peel District School Board under a false pretext and now we’re seeing the real agenda: firing teachers. Families in schools under provincial supervision should be worried about what comes next.

If your child attends a school that has been placed under provincial supervision, you should be worried. This government has already been putting more and more boards under supervision, and your child’s school could be next.

The thing that children and their families need still aren’t available. Ontario Liberals have been calling for 10,000 more adults in our schools. When this government should be investing, they’re pulling back and giving families less.

Ask yourselves this: what has supervision delivered so far? They’ve lifted the class size caps and starved special education. How is this better for students?

This is only the beginning. At a time when Ontario families need stability, Doug Ford is creating chaos in our schools and making life harder for students, teachers, and parents. His attempt to distract won’t work.