TORONTO -- Premier Dalton McGuinty says the government is going to the Ontario Labour Relations Board in an effort to stop Friday's planned protest by the province's public elementary teachers.
McGuinty is calling the planned walkout by thousands of public elementary teachers to protest their controversial new contracts an "illegal strike."
He says the teachers are no longer in a legal strike position now that the cash-strapped province has imposed new two-year collective agreements.
However, the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario insists it's not a strike, but a one-day political protest that's protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
McGuinty wouldn't say whether the government would go after teachers who walk off the job in court and said they could protest before or after school, on the weekend, or on a statutory holiday.
Meanwhile, high school teachers announced late Wednesday they will hold a day of political protest for January 16th if the government has not repealed Bill 115, rescinded the imposed contracts and restored free collective bargaining.
