Queen's Park Politics

[SteelTown]

Ontario auditor general digs into Science Centre, emergency rooms in new report
Report set to be released Wednesday will be first since Bonnie Lysyk's term ended

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...ents-1.7046016

The costs of relocating the Ontario Science Centre and the efficiency of hospital emergency departments are two of the topics under the microscope of the province's auditor general.

The annual report from the province's independent financial watchdog will be released Wednesday. It will dig into a dozen topics, examining whether Ontarians are getting value for money from a range of government programs.

The report is the first to be released since the end of Bonnie Lysyk's 10-year term as auditor in early September.

Acting auditor general Nick Stavropoulos will present the report and take questions from journalists Wednesday. The Legislature has yet to appoint Lysyk's successor.

The topic that's likely to get the most attention from the opposition parties at Queen's Park is the auditor's look into the overall operations and financial sustainability of the Ontario Science Centre, including the plans of Premier Doug Ford's government to move it from its original location to the waterfront site of Ontario Place.

[MolsonExport]

Ontario to announce plan to allow beer in corner stores

The Ontario government is set to announce it is fulfilling its five-year-old promise to allow the sale of beer in corner stores and end the quasi-monopoly of the province’s big-brewer-owned Beer Store retail chain.

Neighbouring jurisdictions in Quebec and New York State, as well as elsewhere in the United States, have long allowed beer sales in corner stores. It is also allowed in convenience stores in Newfoundland. In Ontario, beer and alcohol has also been sold in rural areas in some convenience stores with special licences.

Critics of the Beer Store monopoly often point out that while its owners used to be domestic beer companies, it has long been controlled by foreign multinationals.

Good riddance, Beer Store. You suck. You've always sucked.

[MolsonExport]

remember this ad from the good folks at the Beer Store?
• Video Link


On the other hand, guess who is going to benefit the most from this switch?

[Dengler Avenue]

https://x.com/fordnation/status/1735...700537303?s=20
I wonder what's in store.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

https://x.com/fordnation/status/1735...700537303?s=20
I wonder what's in store.

Definitely not lower prices!

How's the buck a beer thing going?

[Djeffery]

Surprised no one mentioned the backtracking on the Peel thing.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Surprised no one mentioned the backtracking on the Peel thing.

I think I only read about that yesterday.

It's more interesting now that Crombie is Liberal leader. She has been a champion of splitting up Peel.

[Dengler Avenue]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Dumont
I just realized that the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario is actually a québécoise.
I was tempted to say franco-ontarian but @Acajack might protest.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Dumont
I just realized that the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario is actually a québécoise.
I was tempted to say franco-ontarian but @Acajack might protest.

She's franco-ontarian now.

[SteelTown]

I could certainly use the retro pay right now, yes I was locked in 1%




Ontario Appeal Court rules Ford government's Bill 124 unconstitutional
Bill 124 limited wages for many public sector workers, including nurses and teachers
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...ario-1.7112291


Ontario Premier Doug Ford's law that imposed wage restraint on public sector workers violated their collective bargaining rights and is unconstitutional, the province's Appeal Court ruled Monday.

The law, known as Bill 124, capped salary increases for public sector workers to one per cent a year for three years.

A lower court struck it down as unconstitutional and the Appeal Court, in a 2-1 decision, largely upheld that decision, writing that the infringement couldn't be justified.

"Because of the Act, organized public sector workers, many of whom are women, racialized and/or low-income earners, have lost the ability to negotiate for better compensation or even better work conditions that do not have a monetary value," the court wrote in its majority opinion.

The Progressive Conservatives enacted the law, known as Bill 124, in 2019 as a way to help the government eliminate a deficit. The province had argued the law did not infringe constitutional rights, saying the charter only protects the process of bargaining, not the outcome.

[SteelTown]

Ford expresses frustration with Bill 124 ruling, but says he's agreed to repeal it amid high cost of living
Measures like wage restraint should be up to governments, not the courts, premier says

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...ving-1.7114202

Ontario Premier Doug Ford expressed frustration Tuesday with an Appeal Court ruling declaring his law imposing wage restraint on public sector workers unconstitutional, but says he has agreed to repeal it amid a high cost of living.

The province's top court ruled that a law that capped salary increases for broader public sector workers at one per cent a year for three years violated collective bargaining rights.

Hours after the ruling, the government announced that it would repeal the law, known as Bill 124, something that opposition critics, labour advocates and health-care workers have long urged.

Ford says measures like that should be up to governments, not the courts, though he respects the ruling. Ford says when the law was enacted in 2019 the province's finances were not as stable, and times are different now.

The premier notes that since a lower court first ruled the law unconstitutional, workers such as nurses and teachers have received back pay to compensate them, and his government is repealing the law now amid a cost-of-living crisis.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

I could certainly use the retro pay right now, yes I was locked in 1%

Me too. I'm in the group who DGAF though, especially re: the way this government operates, which is frustrating.

[SteelTown]

Cost of Doug Ford's failed wage restraint legislation tops $4 billion
The price tag has topped $4 billion this fiscal year for Premier Doug Ford's ill-fated Bill 124 public sector wage restraint legislation.

https://www.thespec.com/politics/pro...amilton-region

The price tag has topped $4 billion this fiscal year for Premier Doug Ford's ill-fated Bill 124 public sector wage restraint legislation, which was twice struck down by the courts as unconstitutional.

That tab is expected to grow as the Ontario government prepares to make more catch-up payments to workers and bolsters its contingency fund to $5 billion to provide what Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy called "flexibility."

[SteelTown]

My union, Unifor, basically said it'll probably take months if not a year or two before I see any retro pay because of Bill 124. Ugh

From my union: "We know this latest ruling renews questions from our members around the CBAs that were negotiated under Bill 124 – specifically the wage cap. While we previously were told the overturning of Bill 124 did not impact those CBAs that have already expired, we are once again consulting with Unifor’s legal department on whether we have any options to seek increased wages due to the cap that was wrongfully imposed during bargaining."

[SteelTown]

Ontario has to pay public sector workers $6B and counting in Bill 124 compensation
Costs come as province prepares to release its 2024 budget

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...ment-1.7144793

Ontario is so far on the hook for more than $6 billion in payments to broader public sector workers as a result of the provincial government's wage restraint legislation being found unconstitutional.

Bill 124 capped salary increases for broader public sector workers at one per cent a year for three years, but after the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled it unconstitutional the government repealed it.

Since a lower court first found the law unconstitutional in 2022, unions with so-called reopener clauses in their contracts have been seeking retroactive pay increases above the one per cent a year and in most cases have been awarded considerably larger amounts.

Senior government officials not authorized to speak publicly about the costs confirm to The Canadian Press that those awards so far add up to $6,000,800,000.

Speaking at a news conference in Barrie, Ont., Friday morning, Premier Doug Ford confirmed to CBC News that the payout figure is correct.

"When we first took office, we walked into a bankrupt province and we had to keep things in control," Ford said.

[SteelTown]

Ontario government facing class action suit for abruptly cancelling basic income program
Around 4,000 former program participants seeking damages of up to $200M

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...suit-1.7149067

The Ontario government is facing a class action lawsuit for the cancellation of the province's basic income pilot project — an abrupt move that some say caused significant emotional and financial harm.

In a statement Tuesday, Toronto law firm Cavalluzzo LLP says the class action suit, brought forward by 4,000 people who took part in the project, claims damages for the sudden cancellation in July 2018 by Doug Ford's government. The lawsuit is seeking damages of up to $200 million.

As part of the pilot, about 4,000 participants in Hamilton, Lindsay and Thunder Bay earning less than $34,000 received just under $17,000 annually. The amount decreased by 50 cents for every dollar an individual earned through work and couples received a little more than $24,000. People with disabilities received an additional $6,000.

"Basic income gave me dignity, it gave me hope, it gave me financial stability," said Lindsay resident Dana Bowman in the statement.

Bowman said prior to being selected to participate in the program, she was receiving Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) benefits.

But after the cancellation of the pilot project, she has since returned to ODSP and receives about $700 per month, half of what she was receiving under the basic income pilot. Bowman said the program allowed her to help care for her grandchildren, travel to her daughter's home for the weekend, buy groceries and be able to have a family meal.

"I was able to contribute to her dinner table, I wasn't taking from my grandchildren," she said. "Now I feel like I'm a burden."

CBC Toronto reached out to the premier's office but did not receive an immediate response.