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Ontario Liberals $500-million to make peace with school teachers last year, according to a new report. (Chris So/Toronto Star via Getty Images) | Chris So via Getty Images

The provincial government spent nearly $500-million to buy labour peace with school teachers in 2013.

That figure comes in a new report from the auditor general, released on Wednesday.

The provincial Liberals took on teachers back in 2012, imposing contracts that, among other cutbacks, ended payouts for unused sick days. The government said those measures would save nearly $2.5-billion.

Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk was asked to investigate if the Liberals were exaggerating that amount.

"We have concluded that the estimate was reasonable," she said in her report.

However, after the contracts were imposed amid labour unrest the Liberals made new deals with teachers. At that time, they promised the deals would not cost taxpayers anything.

But the auditor tallies those deals at $468-million.

So the governments original cost reduction estimate of $2.4-billion, made in August 2012, was revised to $2.1-billion after the contract negotiations. Lysyk repeated that was reasonable.

Continued here:
Liberals Pay Nearly $500-Million For Labour Peace With Teachers: Auditor General

Former Liberals in the Senate are offering up ready-made legal arguments to anyone willing to take the federal government to court in order to force a national inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls.

They say they are taking the legal route because Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government refuses to heed the calls of aboriginal groups, civil-liberty organizations and opposition parties to hold an inquiry.

"I think that there is no other choice than to go to court," said Sen. Serge Joyal, who wrote the legal argument.

"This is a way to press upon the government in a more efficient manner, so the government will have to defend its stance in court and be shamed by public opinion. That, I think, might compel the government to act, finally."

Joyal, a lawyer by training, cites sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, other legal cases and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to buttress his argument for an inquiry.

He and his Senate colleague Lillian Dyck are in the early stages of finding someone who will take the case to Federal Court.

"The first party to launch an action is normally a person who is directly aggrieved or a person who has a direct interest," Joyal said.

Such a case could be before the courts for years.

But Joyal and Dyck say a court case would put pressure on the Conservative government to call an inquiry, something it has so far refused to do.

"It could be an aspect of shaming," Dyck said.

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Senate Liberals offer legal arguments for missing, murdered women inquiry

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) Rand Paul of all people is enjoying a kind of a honeymoon with some on the left.

Yes, the Republican senator from Kentucky backed by the Tea Party and openly aspiring to run for president has fans among progressives who otherwise have nothing good to say about Republicans.

One of the things they like is Pauls opposition to knee-jerk military intervention. It is a stance he inherits from his libertarian father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, but which distinguishes him from most other Republican candidates as well as hawkish Democrats like Hillary Clinton, the putative frontrunner for her partys presidential nomination.

Liberals also like Pauls opposition to the war on drugs and along with it his advocacy for criminal-justice reform, including restoring the right to vote to convicted felons. Too often, Paul says, drug-related convictions disproportionately falling on young people of color ruins their lives.

After a recent interview with Paul on his program, the liberal Bill Maher said the conversation left him unsure about 2016. I think its only a good thing for America, the comedian said with his typical modesty, when Im not sure who I am going to vote for next time.

For the time being, at least, these liberals seem willing to forget or overlook Pauls opposition to gay marriage, his defense of personhood, his feeling that private enterprises should be able to discriminate against whoever they choose, and his willingness, at least in the past, to share fringe conspiracy theories.

Pauls successful charm offensive, if that is what it is, prompted Time magazine to feature him on the cover last month with the headline The Most Interesting Man in Politics.

And this week, Salon and Huffington Post blogger H.A. Goodman posted a piece: Im a liberal Democrat. Im voting for Rand Paul in 2016. Here is why.

For Goodman, in addition to Pauls stance on military intervention and criminal-justice reform, it is the Kentucky senators unflinching criticism of domestic spying by the government that puts him at the head of the pack. Neither Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, nor any other candidate in 2016 has made this a top priority in their campaign, Goodman says.

He also notes that Paul was the first 2016 contender to visit Ferguson, Mo., the site of racial disturbances this summer after a white policeman shot and killed a black teenager. For some reason I just cant imagine Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush taking a moment to find out why Ferguson took place, Goodman says, and what steps are needed to solve that intractable situation.

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Darrell Delamaide's Political Capital: Liberals crush on Rand Paul says more about Clinton

It cost taxpayers $468 million when Premier Kathleen Wynne reopened teacher contracts to soften a wage-freeze bill her predecessor Dalton McGuinty imposed, auditor general Bonnie Lysyk says.

That is the total for the additional cost, she told reporters Wednesday after releasing a long-awaited special report into the 2012 legislation that Wynne repealed and renegotiated after taking power last year.

The lost savings which come off the $2.4 billion originally estimated by the Liberals came in new deals with several unions for benefits, salaries and wages . . . something I view as taken directly out of the classrooms, said Progressive Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod.

She chided the Liberals for keeping the extra costs secret after negotiations were reached.

The government wasnt honest and it wasnt truthful, MacLeod charged, noting teachers had deserted their traditional Liberal allies in droves after the wage-freeze bill was passed.

Kathleen Wynne wanted to consolidate a voting bloc of hers before an election.

Education Minister Liz Sandals who said in April 2013 that a revised deal with high school teachers is not going to cost taxpayers one dollar more than when we started walked away from reporters asking about the $468 million in foregone savings when the government is trying to eliminate a $12.5 billion deficit.

I think thats a very odd question . . . I think it is a good news story, she said in reference to Lysyks finding that the Liberal government was reasonable in its estimates of cost savings for the bill covering the two-year period from 2012 to 2014.

All our calculations were reasonable given the information we had at the time.

Lysyk said the extra costs to bolster the deals with teachers are separate.

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Liberals' decision to reopen teacher contract cost $468M, auditor says

A backroom veteran and political pundit who calls himself the Prince of Darkness of Canadian politics is considering running for the federal Liberals in the Toronto riding once held by Jack Layton.

Warren Kinsella was invited, along with other prospective candidates, to attend a recent meeting of the Liberals Toronto-Danforth riding association. He said in an e-mail Wednesday that a number of senior Liberal party members are urging him to run in the 2015 election.

Im giving it serious thought, said Mr. Kinsella. Its a big decision. Im very concerned about the direction the country is going in, and I believe [Liberal Leader Justin] Trudeau is on track to win back the confidence of Canadians. Mr. Kinsella once ran for the federal Liberals in 1997, losing his bid for a seat in North Vancouver.

Among the party veterans who support Mr. Kinsellas candidacy is Dennis Mills, the Liberal who held Toronto-Danforth and its predecessor for 16 years before being defeated by Mr. Layton, the former NDP leader, in 2004.

Mr. Mills said Wednesday he believes Mr. Kinsella would make an excellent MP because of his experience, his knowledge of public policy, and his passion for Canada. I think that he would be a great parliamentarian, said Mr. Mills. He has had a long, long apprenticeship in serving every region of our country.

The potential candidacy of Mr. Kinsella in the downtown Toronto riding, where the Liberals will be seeking to unseat NDP MP Craig Scott, could be the latest headache to ensue from Mr. Trudeaus commitment to open nominations.

Liberal officials would not discuss Mr. Kinsellas potential entry into front-line politics but pointed out that all of their partys candidates must pass a difficult vetting process before they are given the green light to run as a candidate.

Mr. Kinsella, one of the most high-profile political strategists in the country, made his name in politics working on the campaigns of former prime minister Jean Chrtien and former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty, and through books and media. But his career has recently been marked by a series of messy splits and ensuing feuds with parties and politicians who have used his services.

Mr. Kinsellas last known role with the federal Liberals was with former leader Michael Ignatieff, whom he called a treacherous aristocrat after he abruptly left his office about five years ago. And he appeared to part ways with the Ontario Liberals after his preferred choice to replace Mr. McGuinty, Sandra Pupatello, lost her leadership bid; he was subsequently sharply critical of the people around Kathleen Wynne, who won that race.

Earlier this year, he left the Toronto mayoral campaign of Olivia Chow after he suggested that the transit plan of rival candidate and eventual winner John Tory for whom he worked in a previous campaign was segregationist. He subsequently complained that Ms. Chow failed to defend him after the ensuing controversy, and blamed her disappointing third-place election result on her weakness as a candidate.

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Backroom veteran Warren Kinsella mulls bid for Trudeaus Liberals