Students set to head back to school as new contract for Ontario teachers far off

TORONTO — Ontario students will soon return to school, but a new contract for their teachers and education workers may be far off as substantive bargaining has not even started.

Current education contracts are set to expire at the end of the month, but negotiations for a new deal have stalled before they even really started, with the parties not agreeing on which issues should be bargained centrally, and which should be local.

Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation president Martha Hradowy says the government is trying to further centralize talks, moving issues such as transfer, layoff and recall language away from local tables.

The central-local split issue has been referred to the Ontario Labour Relations Board, effectively stalling bargaining.

Hradowy says talks should be continuing on the issues both sides agree are central, such as class sizes and workloads.

But Education Minister Paul Calandra says it is essential to have the certainty of what issues will be negotiated centrally before approaching bargaining as a whole.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2026.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press