“Throughout Black History Month we pay tribute to black Canadians and their achievements.

“In the 19th century blacks escaping slavery fled to Canada. Many crossed the Southern Ontario border using the secret routes of the Underground Railroad. Canada was a refuge where they could live as free citizens and make important contributions.

“Today, one has to look no further than celebrated musician Nathaniel Dett of Niagara, the unrivalled athleticism of Chatham’s Ferguson Jenkins or the life-long commitment to public service embodied in Ontario statesman Lincoln Alexander, named the “Greatest Hamiltonian of All Time.”

“During this month Ontarians reflect on the action our province’s leaders took to reconcile our nation’s history of past injustices.

“In the 1940s and 1950s Ontario’s Provincial Parliament passed important legislation including the Racial Discrimination Act and later Canada’s first fair practices legislation. These bills sought to end racial discrimination and champion the rights and equality of all people.

“Today, we are all called to carry on this work and be stewards of a province that is open, accepting and tolerant.

“When we have a culture that supports these values, we foster creativity and excellence in all of our citizens.”

QUEEN’S PARK – Delays in getting public sector salary arbitration decisions must be ended to let municipal governments keep their finances in line, Ontario PC Finance Critic Peter Shurman said today.

“The longer an arbitrator sits on a particular case, the more time there is for local budget pressures to change,” Shurman said. “For example, unemployment could go up, the tax base could contract or borrowing costs could rise.

“When they are finally decided, an unreasonable arbitrated settlement can hit a municipality’s budget like an earthquake. That’s why we need legislation requiring arbitrators to make their decisions under strict timelines.”

Shurman cited the following example of an unreasonable delay in settling salary arbitrations – and its results:

• The average firefighters’ arbitration takes 37 months to resolve, according to City of Thunder Bay Manager Tim Commisso.
• In a recent Thunder Bay case, it took 85 months.
• Because of the seven-year wait, the decision made a mockery of “ability-to-pay”: Between 1998 and 2011, the City saw a 39 per cent reduction in its tax base.

“A related problem is called ‘rack-and-stack’,” Shurman noted. “Unions have become sophisticated at gaming the system by backing arbitrators they know are slow to hand down settlements.”

This buys time for another settlement to appear elsewhere that raises the potential value of the one they’re waiting for, he explained.

“Our Ontario PC plan to fix the system will lay down strict timeframes to be met by arbitrators so budgeting isn’t thrown into chaos,” Shurman said. “Hard-pressed municipalities and taxpayers deserve nothing less.

“And this is just one Ontario PC idea for reducing the size and cost of government, to safeguard funding for programs – like heath care and education – that Ontarians really care about.”

QUEEN’S PARK – Premier McGuinty is completely out of touch if he believes that arbitrated salary settlements of up to 20 per cent in any way reflect ‘the economic times’ facing hard-pressed municipalities and taxpayers, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak said today.

“Only Dalton McGuinty would believe that forcing local governments to hike taxes in a downturn to pay for these exorbitant settlements ‘takes into account the economic times’,” Hudak said.

Hudak made the comment as he continued to detail his plan to fix Ontario’s broken public sector salary arbitration system.

“Step One is to clarify current legislation to prevent arbitrators from forcing tax increases as a way to pay for these settlements,” Hudak said. “Arbitrators seem to think governments have an unlimited ability to pay because they have an unlimited ability to hike your taxes.”

Hudak cited the example of the City of Stratford, where in December 2011, an arbitrator awarded city firefighters and dispatchers retroactive pay hikes of three per cent in each of 2007, 2008 and 2009, and pay increases of 3.6 per cent for 2010 and 3.8 for 2011 and 2012. Taken together, this settlement will result in over a 20 per cent salary increase – at a time when most families have seen their own incomes stagnate.

“Total estimated cost: $1.5 million – which delayed approval of the City’s 2012 budget and raised the threat of a tax increase to finance it all,” Hudak noted, adding that Stratford City Councillors warned then Liberal Revenue Minister John Wilkinson that this would happen the previous year. Wilkinson’s response at that time:

“(This problem) really is on our radar too. Most arbitrators in the past have said, ‘well, you’re the government. These people deserve a raise and you just raise taxes to pay for it.’”

“The law must require arbitrators to respect ability-to-pay without resorting to tax hikes,” Hudak said. “They must clearly explain the reasons for their decisions. And they must meet tight timelines to allow governments to budget accordingly.”

Hudak said his reform plan would reduce the size and cost of government, freeing up savings to fund priorities like heath care and education: “Tough times call for tough choices,” Hudak concluded. “Dalton McGuinty won’t make them – so an Ontario PC government will.”

QUEEN’S PARK – A mandatory public sector wage freeze is only the first step toward reining in ballooning public service salary costs, for savings to fund core services like health and education, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak said today.

“My plan for a public sector wage freeze needs to be followed by reform to the underlying arbitration system that results in these unrealistic settlements in the first place,” Hudak said.

For that to happen, there needs to be clear new rules for conducting arbitrated settlements – rules that take into account Dalton McGuinty’s $16 billion deficit, the 560,000 Ontarians out of work and financially strapped taxpayers and communities, Hudak added.

Hudak was joined by Owen Sound Mayor Deborah Haswell, whose city’s fire service costs are expected to jump to $4.2 million this year from $3.7 million in 2011. The increase is due to higher wage and benefit costs after an arbitrator awarded retroactive pay hikes of 3.6 per cent for 2009, 3.8 per cent for 2010 and 3.6 per cent for 2011. “Small towns and cities, like Owen Sound, simply cannot afford to foot the bill for outrageous arbitration settlements,” Haswell said. “I welcome Tim Hudak’s efforts to tackle arbitration decisions that do not reflect the taxpayers’ ability to pay.”

Key to the Ontario PC public sector salary arbitration reform plan is legislation that will require arbitrators to:

• make decisions that explicitly reflect local economic conditions, such as the cost of living, and local and provincial budgetary constraints, without the assumed ability to raise taxes to fund settlements
• adhere to defined timelines for handing down decisions, enabling local governments to stick to their budget planning schedules amid often rapidly changing economic circumstances, and
• issue written decisions that clearly explain the reasoning for awards, and show that specific factors have been taken into account – such as local, and broader, fiscal conditions

Also in attendance was Bruce Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker: “Ontario municipalities are looking to the province for help. An important step towards delivering relief to their budgets is by fixing the arbitration system and ensuring public sector contract agreements reflect the local taxpayers’ ability to pay.”

Hudak said there have been too many cases of arbitrators thumbing their noses at taxpayers – basically saying there’s no law to stop them from awarding whatever amounts they’d like, regardless of constraints like the inflation rate, or an employers’ ability to pay.

“That makes the case for both short and longer-term legislated measures: An immediate public sector salary freeze to stop the upward wage spiral, and arbitration reform to ensure that it never starts again.

“It’s plain now that Dalton McGuinty doesn’t have the nerve to confront the union bosses and take these essential steps toward reining in the size and cost of government – so I will.”

“Six million Jews were the victims of state-sponsored, systematic persecution and annihilation by the Nazis and their collaborators from 1933-1945.

“Many more were targeted because of physical and mental disabilities, religious and racial backgrounds and sexual orientation.

“Over one million Canadians joined the Armed Forces during World War II to defeat the Nazis and liberate the prisoners of labour and concentration camps.

“Afterwards, Ontario became home to the majority of the Holocaust survivors who immigrated to our country – creating a more diverse and vibrant multicultural province.

“For these reasons, we recognize today as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“We commemorate the many victims of the Holocaust and condemn this evil for what it was. By maintaining our vigilance, we will ensure such a despicable travesty never occurs again.”

“Strong knowledge infrastructure runs through Thunder Bay,” Hudak said. “But it’s not being utilized. The North’s unemployment rate is nearly 12 per cent – well above the provincial average. Northwestern Ontario alone has lost over 16,000 jobs since 2006.”

“On Dalton McGuinty’s watch we have a paradox of high unemployment and widespread skilled-labour shortages,” Hudak added.

Hudak went on to say that it does not have to be this way: “I have a plan to create 200,000 new skilled trade jobs. This includes reducing the ratio of journeymen to apprentices to one to one.”

“This means more electricians, ironworkers, carpenters, construction millwrights and sheet metal workers. The list goes on. So do the opportunities.”

“By partnering with Confederation and implementing this plan, the North’s construction, forestry, hydroelectricity, manufacturing and mining industries will have a wealth of human capital to draw on,” Hudak concluded.

“To do this, we need to get community colleges further involved with administering more apprenticeship opportunities.”

Examples of the new responsibilities colleges would administer under the Ontario PC apprenticeship reform plan include:

• helping to match aspiring apprentices with employers;
• reaching out to local businesses willing and capable to take on apprentices; and
• having community colleges coordinate apprenticeship agreements.

“As a former Minister of Northern Development and Mines, there’s nothing more I want than for our residents to achieve their professional dreams right here at home in Thunder Bay,” Hudak concluded.

QUEEN’S PARK – Exasperated Ontarians have waited long enough for Dalton McGuinty to decide something for tackling his spending crisis, and with the Drummond Report in hand – and yet more signs of a worsening economy – his time is up, PC Leader Tim Hudak said today.

“Don Drummond can exit the stage now,” Hudak said. “Dalton McGuinty commissioned his report. He bought it and we all paid for it. It’s ‘The Dalton McGuinty Report’ now.

“Taxpayers and businesses are watching – as are the investment community and the rating agencies. The Premier must release the report now and say what he’s going to do with it before confidence in our economy slides further. And if he’s not going to carry out this plan, what is his alternative?”

Hudak was joined by Ontario PC Economic Development Critic Monte McNaughton, who pointed to Friday’s new StatsCan unemployment numbers as evidence of the need for action.

“Today we mark the 61st straight month in which our province has trailed the rest of Canada in job creation,” McNaughton said. “For the third straight time since the October election, Ontario has suffered net losses in full-time work – meaning we have lost 57,000 jobs since then.

“It’s another sad milestone if you’re among the 593,000 men and women who now can’t find a job in Dalton McGuinty’s Ontario.”

Hudak noted other key signs of a worsening economy – just since the creation of the commission in the 2011 budget – to illustrate the high cost of the Premier’s continued dithering:

• Thursday’s Conference Board report showing Ontario’s growth slumping to 1.9 per cent, meaning the Liberals will miss their 2017 balanced budget target by four years
• Last week’s StatsCan report showing Ontario trailed Canada in average weekly earnings growth
• Another spike in Ontario’s deficit to $16 billion from $15 billion – right after the election
• December’s threatened credit downgrade for Ontario from Moody’s Investor Services

“I urge Dalton McGuinty to act on policy ideas that the Ontario PC Caucus has advocated for months in the spirit of collaboration, to rein in the size and cost of government – whether or not they are echoed in his report,” Hudak said.

These include a mandatory public sector wage freeze, competition for public services delivery to generate savings and service improvements, and reform to the province’s public sector arbitration system – which awards settlements that local governments and taxpayers simply can’t afford, he added.

“Dalton McGuinty must now act to find new ways to make government work for the people who pay the bills – so we can direct savings to vital services such as health care and education. Unless ‘buyer’s remorse’ over the McGuinty Report has taken hold in the Premier’s Office – as we suspect.”

QUEEN’S PARK – Arbitrators will be less inclined to “give away the store” at taxpayers’ expense if they had to deliver clear, written decisions that explain the reasons for their awards, Ontario PC Municipal Affairs Critic Steve Clark said today.

“In recent years, arbitrators have awarded unions excessive settlements, even as Ontario has been saddled with record deficits and a struggling economy,” Clark said. “Communities deserve a full explanation of why they would be forced to raise property taxes to pay the bills that result.”

“We will amend current legislation to require arbitrators to issue written decisions that clearly explain the reasoning for their awards and the specific factors taken into account, such as the impact on taxpayers and current economic conditions.”

As an illustration, Clark referenced the case of Stratford firefighters, awarded retroactive pay increases going back three years at an estimated cost to the municipality of $1.5 million.

“This decision landed with such a bang that Council had to delay the City’s 2012 budget and threaten tax increases to pay for it,” Clark noted.

“That Stratford decision resulted in a 20 per cent pay increase with no explanation in a four-page decision, where one page is the cover page and one is the signature page.”

“The arbitrator did not explain himself at all. That’s wrong. An Ontario PC Government would require arbitrators to justify their actions and take responsibility.”

Clark said the Ontario PC arbitration reform plan would also:

• require arbitrators to respect ability-to-pay for their decisions without assuming that tax increases will cover the cost;
• enforce responsible defined timelines so governments can budget accordingly; and
• help bring public sector paycheques in line with private sector standards.

“This is another step toward reducing the bloated size and cost of government in Dalton McGuinty’s Ontario,” Clark said.

“Doing so will lead to balanced budgets, and balanced budgets will restore prosperity so we can afford the services Ontarians truly care about – such as quality health care and a solid education system.”

MEAFORD – Thriving local businesses and communities are essential to Ontario’s economic come back, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak said today, while addressing members of the Owen Sound, Blue Mountains and Meaford Chambers of Commerce.

“Ontario faces unprecedented economic challenges. But rather than fixing the problems here at home, Dalton McGuinty blames Europe and the United States for our troubles. It explains why he hasn’t presented a single new idea since the election,” Hudak said.

“I refuse to sit back as a debt crisis sends hard-earned tax dollars to debt servicing costs. These funds should go towards tax relief for job creators and new roads and bridges for communities,” Hudak added.

“This is a minority parliament. The Liberals cannot rule with an iron fist. I’m determined to get results from the opposition benches.”

Hudak was joined by Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker who said: “Between the $16-billion deficit and 560,000 Ontarians out of work, I wouldn’t blame Wiarton Willie if he never emerged from his burrow again. We can’t afford six more weeks of this.”

Hudak commented that “My Caucus colleagues and I have put forward responsible and practical ideas to tackle the province’s debt crisis and create jobs.”

“Central to our plan is to fix Ontario’s broken public sector salary arbitration system. Communities shouldn’t be forced to pay outrageous settlements, resulting in increased property taxes on businesses to cover budget short falls.”

Other PC pro-growth ideas include:

• a mandatory wage freeze for the public sector that would save $2 billion;
• competition for government service delivery;
• a review of all 630 government bureaucracies.
• eliminating job killing red tape and getting government out of the way of good private sector job creation; and
• reducing taxes on job creators.

“Ours is a fair, practical and responsible plan to turn around Ontario’s economy – and it starts with local growth and success,” concluded Hudak.

OWEN SOUND – Georgian College has an important role in tackling Ontario’s jobs crisis that has developed on Dalton McGuinty’s watch, Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak said today while at Georgian College.

“Ontario has a paradox of high unemployment and widespread skilled-labour shortages,” Hudak said. “I have a plan that helps solve both. It starts with creating more than 200,000 new skilled-trades jobs over four years by fixing Ontario’s outdated apprenticeship system.”

“We will reduce the number of journeymen to apprentices, making it 1 to 1.This puts more skilled workers on the job and makes it easier for ambitious student apprentices to get hired by willing employers,” Hudak added.

“To do this, we need to get community colleges like Georgian College further involved. Committed educators are crucial to facilitating new apprenticeship opportunities.”

The following are examples of new responsibilities colleges would administer under the Ontario PC apprenticeship reform plan include:

• helping to match aspiring apprentices with employers;
• reaching out to local businesses willing and capable to take on apprentices; and
• having community colleges coordinate apprenticeship agreements.

Hudak was joined by Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker who said: “The Ontario PC plan works to ensure local businesses have an abundance of human capital to draw from right here in rural Ontario. There’s nothing more I want than for local students to achieve their professional dreams at home in Owen Sound.”

Hudak concluded, “The PC plan means more electricians, ironworkers, carpenters, construction millwrights and sheet metal workers. The list goes on. So do the opportunities.”