I'm not sure what game they're playing at, because they don't have to say anything, but David Rider's sources at the province say Ford doesn't intend to act quickly.
Ontario labour minister says there are no plans for back-to-work legislation for TTC, as clock ticks down to 12:10 a.m. Friday deadline.
www.thestar.com
That's not what the court decision actually says, but not everybody is a labour lawyer, I guess.
If I was a "senior government source" I'd probably only say this to the Star if the goal was to put pressure on Chow to loudly and publicly say she wants help from the province to order them back quickly. Or put pressure on the city to pony up bigger offers to avoid a long strike, but I can't imagine that's the end game for Doug Ford.
Actually on the contrary. That was exactly what the court decision said. You can read it yourself:
Basically like how nurses and fire departments cant strike, there has to be serious danger to the safety of people. Note how the government tried to bring up "increased emissions". Thats why, you have to show a danger to society.
Reading it back, Theres no way this lasts shorter than 2-3 weeks. though
146] I find on the evidence that the Government failed to establish that the TTC is an essential service as that term has been defined in the caselaw.
[147] In SFL, the Supreme Court held that maintaining essential services can be a “pressing and substantial” objective, but only if the service is truly essential in the sense that its interruption
“would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population”: at paras. 84, 86, and 92. An interruption in services that results in “mere inconvenience” would not be sufficient to meet the definition of essential services.
[148] The Government refers to the fact that the 2008 strike was on very short notice, which left passengers unexpectedly stranded, creating an obvious safety concern for minors, women travelling alone, people with disabilities and those unable to afford alternatives. The evidence put forward by the Government in support of this position is the legislative debates on February 24, 2011. There are no police or hospital records filed in evidence that supports the submission that the short notice of the 2008 strike resulted in actual harm to the public.
[149] There is also no evidence that a TTC strike affects the ability of fire, police, and EMS services from effectively responding to emergencies. In fact, the evidence is to the contrary. The September 22, 2008, City Staff Report, titled “Declaring the TTC an Essential Service in Toronto”, stated that each service reported that there was no noticeable effect on their response times due to a disruption of transit services during a TTC strike.
[150] The Government argues that a transit strike results in negative health effects because of an increase in air pollution. I am not satisfied on the evidence before me that this is the case. The Government’s traffic expert, Dr. Miller, provided the opinion that a transit strike would result in greater traffic congestion and an increase in air pollution. However, he conceded in crossexamination that he assumed no change in behaviour in the event of a transit strike or lock-out. He agreed that trip suppression in the event of a strike could make a “significant difference” in terms of the number of additional cars on the road projected by his model.
[155] The economic concerns must be more than mere inconvenience.
To support the pressing and substantial objective test, the economic harm must be “serious” and “especially injurious to the economic interests of third parties”: RWDSU, at para. 31. As noted by Koehnen J. in OECTA, economic concerns will only be pressing and substantial if they involve “
financial emergency and urgency”: at paras. 262-271.
[159] I find the evidence put forward by the Government to support its position that there are serious economic consequences of a TTC strike to be lacking. There is no current report that sets out a detailed analysis of the economic consequences of a strike. It relies on two reports prepared in 2008; one by the City of Toronto, and one on behalf of the union. The reports were prepared 15 years ago and provide only broad estimates of the economic consequences of a TTC strike, without any detailed analysis.
