Thank you to the member for the question.

I am aware of the labour disruption at Durham College. The Unifor activity outside of campus transitioned from a demonstration to traditional picketing on Monday, August 29. Ontario Tech was advised of this over the weekend and on Sunday sent out a campus-wide announcement reminding everyone about picketing protocols and best practices.

The agreement between GDI and their Unifor employees does allow for replacement workers, so GDI has had a full complement of people fulfilling the cleaning services on campus since the beginning of the strike.

The university is open, and all academic activities will continue as scheduled.

I’m happy to report that this situation does not impact student learning, which is a priority for myself, as the minister. The university is open, and all activities will remain and continue as scheduled. Ontario Tech is encouraging both GDI and the Unifor group to be at the table, getting this figured out as quickly as possible, and Ontario Tech expects to receive another update soon as to how talks are progressing between the two parties. But this is not affecting student learning at this time.