• AG Report finds that the government gave teachers unions $80.5 million in taxpayer money to teachers organizations, including $22 million with “no strings attached”
• Teachers unions have spent millions on election campaign advertising 

TORONTO, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is calling on the Ontario Liberal party to pay back the money it has funnelled into teachers unions, which includes over $22 million in “no strings attached” payments.

A report was released by Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk following her investigation into the government’s secret practice of paying for the unions’ side of collective bargaining. The report found that $80.5 million in taxpayer money was given to teachers’ organizations, including $45.7 million directly to unions, and $34.8 to the union-governed Ontario Teachers’ Federation. Another $22 million was given with “no strings attached” – without any of the accountability controls that are usually associated with government funding. When the story of $2 million in funding to one union was revealed in October 2015, Premier Wynne defended the payments as temporary “one time costs.”

“The sheer amount of money that the Wynne government has given to the unions that back them politically is mind-boggling,” said CTF Ontario Director, Christine Van Geyn. “Contrary to what Kathleen Wynne suggested back in October, these were not one-time payments related to a new bargaining process. The unions received money from this government for over a decade. And if you’re getting $80.5 million dollars from the government, it’s no small wonder you support their re-election and are willing to kickback a few million in taxpayer money advertising for them during a campaign.”

The Auditor General’s report also revealed that the practice of funding union-side bargaining costs was an anomaly, calling Ontario an “outlier” within Canada. Even the government in Ontario only engaged in this practice with teachers unions.

“The government has given tens of millions in taxpayer money to teachers unions, who then turn around and donate to the Liberal party and run campaign ads during elections. The Liberal party is effectively piping taxpayer money to promote itself through these unions, and then telling the public it’s just the normal price of doing business. The Auditor General’s report confirms nothing about this is normal. We are calling on the Liberal Party of Ontario to return the millions of dollars it secretly funnelled to their political allies at these unions,” concluded Van Geyn.