Skip to main content

McGuinty: more legislation targeting public sector coming

Attribution: Joshua Sherurcij
The Liberal plan to obtain a majority by targeting public sector workers went askew last night, with the Liberals falling to a distant third place in the Kitchener-Waterloo by-election.

But they are not deterred in their chosen path. After the defeat, Dalton McGuinty promised to continue pushing his current bill imposing concessions on school board workers through the legislature, but also added that his government plans to introduce additional legislation targeting the broader public sector this fall.  “We’ve got to find a way to hit the pause button on public-sector pay rather than make cuts to our services,” he said.

What this might mean is anyone's guess.

Presumably, McGuinty is not yet counting on legislating provincial government 'professional' and 'supervisory' staff -- as they are still in the midst of bargaining.  McGuinty may mean legislation targeting essential service workers -- like hospital workers -- something he failed to get passed with the Budget bill. Or he could be edging in to something more broadly based.

 Until now at least, the Liberals (as opposed to the PCs) seem to have recognized that general legislation restricting collective bargaining across the public sector would run afoul of the constitution.

But imposing legislation overriding collective bargaining rights multiple times (bargaining unit by bargaining unit) cannot be an appetizing thought for the Liberals (or even the PCs). It gives working people too many chances to organize against you.

 The PCs squarely blamed the unions for their abject failure last night: "Tonight's result has shown that public sector unions from across Ontario were provided with the perfect opportunity to concentrate their resources and lash out against the wage freeze we've been consistently pushing. They bought Kitchener-Waterloo, and now we can expect the rest of Ontario taxpayers to pay for it as the NDP cut more budget deals to keep the Liberals in power."  

 Really? We bought Kitchener-Waterloo?  I guess big corporations can only do so much with the measly $500 billion they are sitting on. 

Hudak has more and more focused his strategy on attacking public sector workers and their unions.  So far, at least, that hasn't done him any more good than it has the Liberals -- probably less. 

Here's what the outgoing PC MPP for Kitchener-Waterloo, Elizabeth Witmer, told a journalist shortly before the K-W by-election: "I hear people are unhappy with the McGuinty government. But they also think Tim Hudak is too right wing. So they may vote NDP in protest." 

Hudak was no doubt quite frustrated after last night's shut-out and his rant was pretty far-fetched. So it is not so surprising if at least some Tories point the finger elsewhere. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More spending on new hospitals and new beds? Nope

Hospital funding:  There is something off about the provincial government's Budget claims on hospital capital funding (funding to build and renovate hospital beds and facilities).    For what it is worth (which is not that much, given the long time frame the government cites), the province claims it will increase hospital capital spending over the next 10 years from $11 billion to $20 billion – or on average to about $2 billion per year.   But, this is just a notional increase from the previous announcement of future hospital capital spending.  Moreover, even if we did take this as a serious promise and not just a wisp of smoke, the government's own reports shows they have actually funded hospital infrastructure about $3 billion a year over the 2011/12-2015/16 period. So this “increase” is really a decrease from past actual spending. Even last year's (2016-17) hospital capital funding increase was reported in this Budget at $2.3 billion - i.e. about 15% more th
Post a Comment
Read more

Ford government fails to respond to 72% increase in COVID inpatient days, deepening the capacity crisis

COVID infections continue to drive up hospital costs and inpatient hospitalizations in Ontario. For the most recent fiscal year (April 1, 2022- March 31, 2023) hospital stays related to COVID cost $1.221 billion, according to new CIHI data.   This is about 4% of total hospital spending, creating a very significant new cost pressure beyond the usual pressures of population growth, aging, inflation, and rising utilization.   Costs for COVID related hospitalizations increased 22.2% in Ontario in 2022/23 from the previous fiscal year, rising from $999 million to $1.221 billion.  That rise is particularly notable as the OMICRON spike of late 2021 and early 2022 had passed by the the 2022/23 fiscal year.   The $222 million increase in COVID hospitalization costs came in the same year as the Ford government cut special COVID funding and, in fact, cut total hospital funding by $156 million.     In total, there were 60,653 COVID hospitalizations in Ontario in 2022/3, up from 47,543 in 2021/2. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Paramedic Services in Canada: Structure, Privatization, Unionization and other issues

Governance and Funding :  While police and fire services are usually municipal services, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are typically controlled by provincial governments.  In Ontario, regional municipal governments have responsibility for delivering and funding EMS.  But even in Ontario the province plays a key role, strictly regulating EMS, providing funding for 50% of the approved land ambulance costs, and paying 100% of the approved costs for air ambulance, dispatch, base hospitals, First Nation EMS, and for territories without municipal government. Delivery :  Like police and fire services, EMS is predominantly a publicly provided service in Canada.   But businesses have now made some significant in-roads into EMS, primarily  Medavie,  a private corporation based in the Maritimes that describes itself as not-for-profit.  Medavie goes back over 70 years, with its roots in health insurance.  It still operates Medavie Blue Cross with 1,900 employees.  It now a
Post a Comment
Read more