On Monday, October 6, Metro-Toronto affiliates of the five teachers associations in Ontario staged a massive rally at Maple Leaf Gardens to protest Bill 160, the Education Quality Improvement Act. By the time the rally started at 7pm, the arena, which seats 18,000 people, was packed to overflow. Teachers in the Peel region (west of Toronto) held a rally at the same time at the International Centre in Mississauga. They marched to Queen's Park following the rallies. On October 8, teachers in the Hamilton-Wentworth and Halton regions are staging another rally at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton. These rallies are being held under the slogan "We Won t Back Down!." Teachers representatives are to meet today at Queen's Park with Ontario Education Minister John Snobelen to discuss the Bill. The teachers are continuing to threaten strike action should the government refuse to either withdraw the bill in its entirety or remove the objectionable provisions. Bill 160 will greatly concentrate control over education in the hands of the provincial cabinet, while stripping the school boards of almost all power to control what goes on in the schools. Since teachers negotiate with the school boards, not the provincial cabinet, the teachers will effectively lose the ability to exercise any control over their working conditions. Bill 160 will extend the time of the school year, give cabinet the power to set class sizes, and give the cabinet the power to set education taxation levels. It would also introduce the use of non-certified instructors in the schools and reduce teacher preparation time. Ontario's 126,000 teachers and education workers are organized into five association: the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF), the Federation of Women Teachers Associations of Ontario (FWTAO), the Ontario Public School Teachers Federation (OPSTF), the Association of Franco-Ontarion Teachers (AEFO), and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA). TML DAILY, 10/97 Shawgi Tell Graduate School of Education University at Buffalo [EMAIL PROTECTED]