OntElx43: Liberals pitch small classrooms on Day 3 of Campaign

Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca announced that an Ontario Liberal government will cut class sizes province-wide, capping them at 20 students for every grade. Because capping class sizes will require more educators, Ontario Liberals will hire 10,000 teachers – ensuring every student gets the focus and attention they deserve.

“As a dad of two young girls, I know how hard the pandemic has been on students,” said Del Duca. “Two years of disruption and online learning from Doug Ford Conservatives have made students’ lives more stressful and put their learning in jeopardy.

"Kids deserve a government that’s in their corner. Ontario Liberals are offering people a choice. Under the Ford Conservatives, you’ll get crowded classes and cuts to education. With the Ontario Liberal plan, we will end mandatory online learning, hire more teachers to teach smaller classes," Del Duca stated in his pitch to voters in the GTA.

Del Duca said that it's time to address the concerns that teachers have been speaking about over the last four years, “We need to give teachers the tools not just to teach, but actually reach their students. They cannot do that over a computer screen. Small class sizes and in-class learning will allow them to do just that."

To reach the goal of hiring 10,000 more teachers, Del Duca said that an elected Ontario Liberal government will recruit teachers from other provinces, help qualified teachers immigrate to Ontario, and attract some of the 80,000 Ontario certified teachers not currently employed by schools back to teaching.

The Ontario Liberal plan will also support teacher education programs – particularly for French-language educators.