The Liberals want a cap — no cap.

Leader Steven Del Duca promised a hard limit of 20 kids in every Ontario classroom from grades 1–12. He said he'd hire 10,000 teachers (6,500 in elementary and 3,500 in high schools) and spend $1 billion to do it.

It appears to be an attempt to outflank the NDP, which has promised to cap classes for Grades 4–8 at 24.

Del Duca acknowledged that getting enough teachers wouldn't happen overnight. The Liberals said they'd try to poach them from other provinces and around the world.

The most crowded classrooms will be the first to see reductions, he said.

"It's something that'll have the full weight of the premier's office ... should we win on June 2," he told reporters Thursday. "It'll be clear in the mandate letter for the new minister of education: this is an urgent thing that needs to be delivered. But we also recognize that it will take a little bit of time."

It was the latest in a string of education announcements from the Liberal leader. He has also promised to build 200 new schools and repair 4,500 more, remove mandatory online classes, restore funding to after-hours programs and put more technology in classrooms.

Teacher unions have been quiet as Del Duca has rolled out his plans. The history between the unions and the previous Liberal government was rocky, to say the least, with strikes over issues like wage freezes and school closures.

Del Duca wouldn't rule out a hypothetical future wage freeze but promised "open, free and fair collective bargaining" with educators.

"This is something that is core to me as someone who spent time before being an MPP working for a labour union. I believe that that's the way you get the best result," said Del Duca, who worked as the director of public affairs for the Carpenters’ District Council of Ontario.

He added that there would be "no school closures under a Del Duca Liberal government."

Three unions broke the silence on Thursday. The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO), Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) and l’association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO) said they were pleased with the commitments to in-person learning and the class-size cap.

ETFO said it would also like to see kindergarten class sizes reduced.

"There are still many kindergarten classes with over 30 students and an even greater number of kindergarten/Grade 1 split-grade classes, which are not supported by a designated early childhood educator," it said in a release.

The OSSTF said in a statement that having 10,000 more teachers would be great. "However, teachers do not work alone. Education is delivered by a team of professionals, and more staffing must include education workers."

Del Duca positioned the Liberals as saviours from the Ford government.

"One example: last Thursday's budget ... contained a $1.3-billion cut to publicly funded education," he said.

To clarify, the Progressive Conservative government didn't plan and execute a traditional $1.3-billion education budget cut. Provincial school funding is per-pupil. So when the COVID-19 pandemic upended the education system and enrolment dropped, schools got less cash.

Del Duca said it was still a cut since the PCs didn't top up that $1.3 billion.

"They had a choice to say, regardless of enrolment numbers, 'We're going to continue to invest what we originally budgeted so we can help set our kids up for success,'" he said. The money could've been used to hire mental health workers or further improve ventilation, he said.

Each time Del Duca has announced a platform plank, the NDP has said voters shouldn't trust him — that the Liberals had 15 years to address the problems they're now promising to fix.

Thursday was no different.

"The last time Steven Del Duca was in government, the Liberals let classroom sizes balloon, partnered with the PCs to freeze teacher and education workers’ wages, and failed to fix the broken school funding formula for fifteen years," the party said in a statement. "Schools without proper resources couldn’t meet the old Liberal promise of capped classrooms."

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath promised to clear the school repair backlog and hire 20,000 educators.

Del Duca again left the door open to working with the NDP if the PCs don't get enough seats for a majority.

"If that means that come June 2, the people of Ontario have asked all of us, regardless of partisan stripe, to work together, then I will do whatever I can to find a way to do that," he said.

READ MORE: Horwath declares NDP’s election ‘priorities’ — rejects minority collaboration (for now)

READ MORE: Del Duca, Horwath haven’t discussed coalition — but the Liberal leader’s ‘mind is open’ to it

Liberals out-cap the NDP on classrooms

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