All three of Ontario's political parties moved at the speed of light to usher in emergency legislation that paved the way for a return of transit service Sunday.
The legislation, known as Bill 66, went through first, second and third reading in just 32 minutes after Premier Dalton McGuinty's government secured the support of both the Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats. Normally, it takes several months for legislation to pass.
“It is an historic day,” Labour Minister Brad Duguid said at a news conference following the unprecedented Sunday sitting. “It was nice to see the legislature come together and the partisan politics drop away to make a decision that we all believe is in the best interests of the public.”
All told, 65 of the 107 MPPs in Ontario were in the chamber when Mr. McGuinty introduced the bill for first reading at 1:30, Eastern time.
“It is the people of Ontario we are serving today,” he said. “By acting on behalf of Toronto workers and families and businesses, we are acting in the interests of all Ontarians. It goes without saying that Toronto, our capital city, plays an important role for all Ontarians and we all need Toronto to be strong so Ontario can be strong. That is why we are bringing this legislation forward today together.”
Even though the buses, streetcars and subways will be back in full operation by tomorrow morning, it will likely take much longer for those commuters left in the lurch on Friday night to get over their anger – something both Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Duguid tacitly acknowledged.
Mr. Duguid urged the public not to take out their frustration on TTC employees but to greet them with a “friendly hello” and thank them for being back on the job.
“I call on all Ontarians to show the dignity that Ontarians always show and that is to be good and courteous to these front-line workers and treat them with respect,” he told reporters.
Although opposition members supported the bill, Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory and two of his caucus members demanded that the union representing TTC workers apologize for not giving the public any notice that they would have a rude awakening Saturday morning.
Mr. Tory said the union should also apologize to its own members, because he said the average TTC worker would not have been comfortable walking off the job without first considering the safety of public transit commuters.
He went so far as to suggest that rank-and-file members should take their union leaders “out to the back and give them a horsewhipping,” because walking off the job at midnight, with no notice, “brought disfavour onto the average member of the union who wouldn't have done this.”
“Let's not talk in the past,” Mr. Duguid told reporters. “Let's move forward. The good news is the transit is running this morning.”
New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton stressed in the legislature that his party was supporting the bill with reservations. He said his party's concerns centre on language in the preamble of the bill, which raises the possibility of making public transit an essential service, a move that would deprive TTC workers of their right to strike in the future. Mr. McGuinty mused about such a possibility a week ago.
“We should not take the passing of this legislation as endorsing essential service legislation,” Mr. Hampton told reporters. He said collective bargaining is complicated enough without adding a whole other level of complexity that can “gum up the works.”
It is believed that the TTC and the union have jointly agreed on Kevin Burkett as the arbitrator, but official confirmation is expected from the ministry of labour in the next day or so.
Without naming the arbitrator, Mr. Miller described him or her as "widely respected."
