Unchartered Waters: Constitutional Challenge To Putting Students First Act Appears Inevitable, Its Outcome Unpredictable

On September 11, 2012, the Ontario legislature passed into law its most controversial bill in recent history. The Putting Students First Act, 2012, (the "PSFA") is remarkable for a number of reasons:

• The minority Liberal government recalled the Legislature two weeks early in order to enact the PSFA with the support of unlikely allies, the Conservatives.
• ThePSFA effectively imposes collective agreements on much of the education sector.
• Even before the PSFA was enacted, three unions had already vowed to challenge its constitutionality under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the "Charter") and had staged a rally at Queen's Park to protest against the legislation.