Treasury Board president says province consulting unions on ways to contain raises
Peter Bethlenfalvy, President of the Treasury Board, speaks to media at Queen's Park in Toronto on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher KatsarovOntario’s Progressive Conservative government is setting the stage for potential battles with public-sector unions, warning that the province’s debt level is unsustainable and floating the idea of legislated caps on wage hikes for everyone from teachers to hospital workers.
A week before the new government of Premier Doug Ford will unveil its first budget, Treasury Board president Peter Bethlenfalvy told a business luncheon the province was launching consultations with unions and employers in the public sector to “explore how compensation growth can be managed in a way that results in wage settlements that are modest, reasonable and most importantly sustainable.”
According to a sample of the form letters sent to a long list of unions and employers such as universities, health care agencies and school boards, the government says it is “considering legislated caps on allowable compensation increases that can be negotiated in collective bargaining or imposed in binding arbitration” but had made no final decisions.Mr.
Mr. Bethlenfalvy pointed to Ontario’s $72-billion annual public sector wage bill as a driving force behind the province’s status as the most indebted subnational government in the world, accounting for half of all government spending. He warned that Ontario’s deficits and large debt put its ability to deliver public services at risk, with $30-million a day going to interest payments alone.
“The challenge of our generation is to make choices that protect what matters most, like front-line programs and services, while confronting intergenerational inequity and future economic shocks,” Mr. Bethlenfalvy said.
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