Over 10,000 rally in Toronto against Tories’ education cuts
By
our reporters
9 April 2019
More than 10,000 teachers, students, parents, and their supporters rallied outside the Ontario legislature in Toronto last Saturday to protest attacks on public education by the right-wing Progressive Conservative government. Coming just two days after well over 100,000 high school students walked out at schools across the province, the large turnout underscored the mounting militancy developing within the working class in opposition to the ruling elite’s austerity measures.
Demonstrators expressed their anger at plans to cut thousands of teaching positions, increase class sizes, slash funding for children with autism and other social needs, and gut aid for college and university students (OSAP). As well as attendees from Toronto, protesters from many other parts of the province, including as far away as Ottawa, Sudbury, and Windsor, arrived in buses to attend the demonstration.
Participants were eager to express their determination to wage a counteroffensive against the Ford government’s attacks. Their determination to wage a struggle in defence of public services and decent-paying jobs is in line with the reemergence of the working class internationally as a mighty social force, including through the mass strike in Matamoros, Mexico, strikes by teachers across the US in defence of public education, the revolutionary upsurge in Algeria, and France’s Yellow Vest protests.
In stark contrast to the mood of the protesters, the five unions representing teachers and school board support staff that called Saturday’s “Rally for Education” were in full damage…