Holding the minimum wage at $14 an hour and reducing red tape will be met with relief by local businesses, according to the Newmarket Chamber of Commerce.
A series of regulatory and legislative changes were introduced by Premier Doug Ford's government this afternoon, including cancelling the hike in the minimum wage to $15 in January under the current Bill 148 brought in by the previous Liberal government.
"It will take off some of the pressure they have been feeling on Bill 148 and the speed of the changes," Tracy Walter, president and CEO of the Newmarket Chamber, told NewmarketToday. "Reducing the red tape burden will be welcomed."
Jim Wilson, Ontario Minister Responsible for Red Tape and Regulatory Burden Reduction, announced changes to legislation that, if passed, will hold the minimum wage at $14 an hour for the next two years, cut two paid sick days and reduce scheduling requirements.
"When it comes to the economy, being 'For the People' means keeping and growing good jobs right here in Ontario," said Wilson in a news release. "This will not happen on its own. Instead, it starts with cutting the unnecessary red tape that is driving jobs and investment out of our province."
"We are thrilled that the Government of Ontario is holding strong in its commitment to keep Ontario open for business,” said Walter.
However, members of the Ontario Federation of Labour and Fight for $15 and Fairness group said they are disappointed to hear that repeals to Bill 148 are being introduced in the Legislature today.
"The rollback of labour rights we are witnessing in the Ontario Legislature right now can only be seen as an attack on the most marginalized workers in the province," Fight for $15 and Fairness spokesperson Jessa McLean said. "By denying the lowest paid workers a paltry $1-an-hour raise, Premier Ford has officially sided with big business over the people he promised to represent."
This isn’t a wage freeze, McLean added, it’s a wage cut to minimum-wage workers as their cost of living will go up.
"That means less money for them to spend in our communities," she said.
Protestors for a $15-an-hour minimum wage confronted Deputy Premier and Newmarket-Aurora MPP Christine Elliott Friday, Oct. 5 in Aurora as she made her way into a Newmarket and Aurora chambers of commerce event.
The group had collected more than 500 signatures on a petition protesting changes to the minimum wage.
While Walter said many local businesses support modernizing labour laws — and many pay their employees above the minimum wage and for personal emergency days — Bill 148 brought in changes too quickly and without consultation.
"It was too much, too soon," she added, "and actually caused more red tape."
The government’s announcement is the right step in building labour legislation that is both reasonable for employers and fair to workers, Walter said.
“This new legislation will help bring more jobs to communities like ours, and create a better environment for businesses to grow,” said Elliott. “During the campaign, we heard that doing business in Ontario was becoming increasingly unaffordable Bill 148 imposed unnecessary costs on Ontario job creators. That’s why we’re cutting red tape and taking concrete measures to create jobs and make sure Ontario is open for business.”
The Province will repeal much of the "burdensome, job-killing red tape" imposed by Bill 148, and make changes that include maintaining the minimum wage at $14 an hour until 2020, to be followed by increases tied to inflation. Personal emergency leave rules will change to allow workers to take up to three days for personal illness, two for bereavement and three for family responsibilities, without pay.
The current provisions for domestic and sexual violence leave will be maintained.
The legislation also intends to wind down the Ontario College of Trades and modernize the apprenticeship system. If passed, the act will also address the backlog in Ontario's skilled trades by introducing a one-to-one journeyperson-to-apprentice ratio for every trade for which ratios apply, in better alignment with other provinces and territories.
Walter agreed that folding the trades college will also be welcomed by the local businesses hiring skilled trades workers.
“Today’s news signals the provincial government’s commitment to making Ontario’s skilled trades apprenticeship system more responsive to the needs of the economy, and to addressing a dire labour shortage," Walter said in a news release. "The College has become overly focused on enforcement and regulation, limiting its ability to serve the public interest by attracting and training new tradespeople."
Without needed reforms being implemented, the Ontario Chamber Network had been advocating for the dismantling of the trades college and returning responsibility for trades regulation to the Province.
"There are many tremendous and vibrant opportunities available in the skilled trades in Ontario. In fact, one in five new jobs in the next five years will be trades-related. But in Ontario today, employers can't find apprentices and apprentices can't find jobs," said Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. "As far as we're concerned, if you are prepared to do the work, then you deserve a shot at the job."
A background document released by the Newmarket Chamber stated: "In consultation, our members have made clear the long-term effects of Bill 148, including the need to decrease product offerings and increase the price of products being sold, hire fewer employees, reduce services and hours of operation, cut back on employee benefits, increase their reliance on automation, and halt capital investment – all in an effort to stay afloat. This is not good for economic growth or for the workers Bill 148 was purported to aid."
