3 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,F ebruary 13,2020 insidehalton.com 1453 North service road, West oakville, oN l6M 2W2 lexusofoakville.ca 905.847.8400 • 1.866.lexus.66lexusofoakville.ca lease aPr 0.9%*36 MoNths Bi-WeeklY lease PaYMeNt FroM $198*doWN PaYMeNt $5,662* total credits oF UP $1,500^ 2020 NX 300 ‡Total Credits include Delivery Credits and Auto Show Credits. ^Auto Show Credits are available on retail purchase/lease of select new 2020 Lexus vehicles including 2020 *Representative lease example based on a 2020 NX 300 sfx 'T' on a 36 month term at an annual rate of 0.9% and Complete Lexus Price of $46,576. Bi-weekly lease payment is $198 with $5,912 down payment or equivalent trade in, $0 security deposit and first bi-weekly lease payment due at lease inception. Total of 78 bi-weekly lease payments required during the lease term. Total lease obligation is $21,106. 48,000 kilometre allowance; charge of $0.20/km for excess kilometres. Complete Lexus Price includes freight/PDI ($2,095), Tire Tax ($20), EHF Filters ($0.7), A/C charge ($100), and OMVIC Fee ($10). Taxes, license, registration (if applicable), dealer fees (if applicable) and insurance are extra. Lexus Dealers are free to set their own prices. Limited time offers only apply to retail customers at participating Lexus Dealers. Dealer order/trade may be required (but may not be available in certain circumstances). Offers are subject to change or cancellation without notice. Offers are effective beginning February 1st and expire on March 2nd unless extended or revised. Visit Lexus of Oakville, lexusofoakville.ca, or email sales@lexusofoakville.ca for complete details. exPerieNce aMaziNgexPerieNce aMaziNg the tiMe toget iNto a lexUs is NoW AUTO SHOWOFFERS ONNOW RX LEXUS NX PaYMeNt iNclUdes $1,500^ total creditsPaYMeNt iNclUdes $1,500^ total creditsPa F SPORT Series 1 shown In the face of escalating job action, Ontario Minister of Education Stephen Lecce continued to point the finger at the teachers' unions dur- ing a Wednesday, Feb. 5 inter- view. The minister stopped by Halton to tour the site of a new elementary school be- ing built in North Oakville and met with Halton District School Board Director of Ed- ucation Stuart Miller and Oakville North-Burlington MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos. Lecce also took a moment to speak with InsideHalton about the striking teachers' unions and the province's ef- forts to reach contract settle-forts to reach contract settle-f ments. He noted the province has reached negotiated set- tlements with two education sector unions, ratifying the Educational Workers' Alli- ance of Ontario deal on Feb. 4. The province reached an agreement with the Canadi- an Union of Public Employ- ees in November 2019. All four major Ontario teachers' unions are engaged in some form of job action. Nearly one million kids were out of class Thursday, Feb. 6, as the ElementaryFeb. 6, as the ElementaryF Teachers' Federation of On-Teachers' Federation of On-T tario (ETFO) held its first one-day provincewide strike. "I think families in this community are particularly frustrated by the negativefrustrated by the negativef impacts of job action by the teachers' union leaders," said Lecce. "These strikes fundamen- tally hurt kids. They are un- dermining the learning po- tential of young people, they are hurting the financial ca- pacities of parents to get ac- cess to child care and the communities pay a price through economic produc- tivity loss. So this is really hurting everyone, which is why we need to get a deal."why we need to get a deal."w Lecce called on the teach- ers' unions to make the nego- tiations about the students and to prioritize investments in students over compensa- tion so a deal can be reached. The minister argued com- pensation remains the major obstacle to getting a deal with all four unions. The Province is offering a 1 per cent increase, while unions want a cost of living increase of about 2 per cent. The unions, however, say key issues include their de- sire to see more resources for students with special needs and their opposition to gov- ernment plans to introduce two mandatory online cours- es in high schools and in- crease class size averages to 25 students. "An assertion that com- pensation is not a matter at the table would just be de- monstrably false. It is, it al- ways is or often is," said Lec- ce. "I'm not suggesting it's the only issue, but we have made some pretty significant moves on those other out- standing concerns, which I think demonstrates our com- mitment to get a deal and to be reasonable and to be stu- dent-centric." The minister argued it is the government's job to en- sure that any additional tax- payer money that goes into education goes toward stu- dent investment and not compensation for teachers, who, Lecce said, "are objec-who, Lecce said, "are objec-w tively well-paid." He said it is time for the unions to be reasonable, stop the job action escalations and abandon the "take it or leave it" approach, which he said is not an effective way to negotiate. When asked if he had any egrets about the negative back-and-forth the two sides have engaged in outside the negotiation room, Lecce said his posture has been one that is reason- able, calm and focused on students. "I will not apologize for highlighting the facts sur- rounding the compensation regime for educators. I al- ways preface that with a no- tation that I value them and that they are my closest friends," said Lecce.friends," said Lecce.f "We value their work. However, facts matter in the debate, so when taxpayers are being asked to foot a $1.5- billion bill, it is prudent to highlight where we are com- ing from in the context of compensation - what they are paid today and where they want to go tomorrow. This informs the public about why we are taking the positions that we are." When asked if he believes the majority of Ontarians support the government's po- sition, especially with #FI- RELECCE trending on Twit- ter at one point, Lecce said he believes the people of Onta- rio want both sides to be rea- sonable. He noted ETFO is escalating the number of strikes it is holding despite Lecce making a commitment to protect full-day kindergar- ten, one of that union's prior- ities. "I think what this shows to families observing is that the government has system- atically been reasonable, making pretty significant moves on a variety of the sub- ject matter that is being dis- cussed at the table," said Lec- ce. "I haven't seen that recip- rocated at all, in any way, by the teachers' union." ETFO president Sam Hammond has said Lecce's pledge needs to passed down to government negotiators so it can be included in a col- lective agreement. Lecce went on to say he believes parents want him to stand firm on the 1 per cent com-firm on the 1 per cent com-f pensation increase being of- fered, and stand firm on hisfered, and stand firm on hisf insistence that any addition- al taxpayer funds for educa- tion go toward benefiting stu- dents and not compensation. EDUCATION MINISTER TALKS TEACHER STRIKES DURING VISIT DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com NEWS