Teachers Political Protest Not a Strike and Not Illegal

First of all it is not a strike because it is not part of the collective bargaining process because with a government imposed contract, imposed under a draconian law whose constitutionality is under challenge, there is no collective bargaining process. Secondly the political protest is aimed at the government as policy maker and legislator, not as employer.

It is not illegal because political protests are not illegal in Canada, even if Stephen Harper and Dalton McGuinty wish they were.

Not that the teachers are completely free of consequences. For one they will not be paid for the day, and secondly their contract provisions may provide for discipline for absences not approved by the employer. But any such action will be subject to the grievance and appeal provisions of their contracts. That being said the usual discipline by employers for such absences is suspension from work without pay. So theoretically the school boards could force the teachers to take time off work without pay as punishment for taking time off work without pay. Sort of like suspending students for truancy.

The biggest irony, or perhaps more appropriately described as hypocrisy, is that Dalton McGuinty has his knickers in a knot over teachers taking a day off without pay to protest a process that has imposed a contract on them that requires them to take days off without pay.

Minority Governments for Dummies (and Tory PMs)

• the voters elect the House of Commons to govern
  
• the leader of the current government (the government before the election) has the right to meet the House and attempt to gain its confidence, however usually the party with the most seats gets the first opportunity to be Prime Minister and lead the government
  
• responsible government requires that the Prime Minister maintains the confidence of the House of Commons to govern
  
• a minority government cannot survive if it attempts to govern as if it had a majority
  
• a Prime Minister cannot bully the House of Commons into supporting him by threatening an election if he doesn't get his way
  
• there is always a Prime Minister in waiting willing to attempt to gain and maintain the confidence of the House if the Prime Minister cannot or is not not willing to
  
• a government is legitimate, and only legitimate, if it has the confidence of the House of Commons
  
• minority governments can work if a Prime Minister recognizes it is the House of Commons that was elected to govern, not him by divine right
  
• minority governments can implement, and have implemented, important measures including Old Age Pensions, Medicare and the Canada Pension Plan
  

Minority Governments in Canada | Mapleleafweb.com