There seems to be good and bad coming out of Queen’s Park these days. It is nice to see that Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi’s proposed bill protecting temporary workers is being greeted with approval. At the same time Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli’s long term energy plan seems to be met with derision.
Mind you, Chiarelli’s portfolio is a lot like pig farming; after a while you get used to the smell. After years of every flavour of Ontario government thinking they are finally solving the Ontario Hydro problem, all we get to see are the bills. We are still paying the price for David Peterson, Bob Rae and Mike Harris. It took the green thumb of Dalton McGuinty to grow electricity pricing in Ontario into what seems to be a huge Ponzi scheme. And we just keep paying.
Looking after temporary workers is a different challenge. It used to be the case in Ontario that there were people that wanted temporary jobs. It gave them experience, new surroundings, opportunity for finding full-time employment and to make a little money towards paying bills. What is of serious concern today is that temporary workers now exceed 700,000 people including more than 100,000 foreign workers. And the federal government appears to be encouraging foreign workers to come to Canada to keep domestic wage demands low.
And there is good reason to refer to these temporary jobs as “precarious.” With the continuous drain of manufacturing jobs in Ontario to “right-to-work” jurisdictions in the United States and the current economy, there are just too many people vying for every available temporary job. And what back-breaking or demeaning work is turned down by Canadians will be quickly taken by foreign workers. It is a feast for those who would cheat and steal from these workers and the Ontario government is finally taking some action. The very least we can do is make the temp agencies equally liable with employers if their temps are not paid. We also have to put an end to bogus fees charged by the agencies to temp workers.
The only regret is that we do not have enough Ministers in the Wynne government as pro-active as MPP Yasir Naqvi. There is less and less time left for Premier Wynne and her government to show that they can be pro-active about Ontario’s economy. Asking Prime Minister Harper for his cooperation is a fool’s errand. If he gets involved on the Ring of Fire file, it will only be on his terms. He is hardly likely to promise anything to Ontario on the pension file.
Wynne has to make made-in-Ontario moves. If she does not, the voters will make the moves for her and Ontario voters hardly deserve a Horwath or Hudak government.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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