Expenditure from Unsuccessful Wage Restraint Legislation by Doug Ford Exceeds $4 Billion

The cost has now surpassed $4 billion in this fiscal year for Premier Doug Ford’s unsuccessful Bill 124 legislation, aimed at restraining public sector wages. The legislation faced two rejections by the courts on constitutional grounds.

This figure is anticipated to rise as the Ontario government plans to disburse further catch-up payments to employees and bolster its contingency reserve to $5 billion, aiming to provide what Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy termed ‘flexibility.’

A report unveiled on Wednesday by the province’s independent Financial Accountability Office revealed additional payouts totaling $2.6 billion to educators and other personnel in the education sector, with an additional $1.5 billion designated for healthcare workers.

An additional $1 billion in hospital spending has been attributed in part to catch-up payments resulting from Bill 124, which the government repealed two weeks ago.

Enacted in 2019 to control government expenditures, the legislation limited wage hikes for most public sector employees to one percent annually.

However, as anticipated by many critics, courts found it to impinge upon collective bargaining rights enshrined in the Charter of Rights under the Constitution. Consequently, arbitrators have been granting higher wages to certain workers covered by contracts with ‘reopener’ clauses, such as those in the civil service and school boards.

Finance Minister Bethlenfalvy stands by the controversial legislation, despite criticism attributing it to a departure of nurses and other healthcare professionals due to wage restrictions during the pandemic, which coincided with a surge in inflation.