The government of Ontario is requesting the school board trustees to reverse their decision on a pay raise they granted themselves. On average, school board trustees earn from $5,900 to $6,900 however, the Government imposed a “salary freeze ” upon the trustees for a period of 4 years. As a result, the trustees feel disrespected and under compensated for their services.

Education is an extremely important element of society and it is important to ensure that the quality of education in a developed country  such as Canada is of the highest quality. The government’s rationale for extending the salary freeze is that everyone needs to play their part in order to put less strain on the government’s financial abilities. However, I feel that a small increase such as 4% in the salaries of school board trustees, who already earn very little is not going to be a major financial burden on the government. To them it is not about the money but also about feeling appreciated. In addition, one can relate this situation to the one in British Columbia, in which educators were in the midst of negotiation for such a long period of time until the government finally gave in. The only party that would lose in a situation like this is the students who are in essence the future.