(Queen’s Park) – MPP Randy Hillier took aim at the Minister of Labour during another round of Estimates Committee yesterday. While woefully unprepared, the Minister’s answers to Hillier’s constant grilling were indicative of the lack of respect for the job creators in the province of Ontario.
Hillier was forced to repeat himself on a number of occasions as the Minister bobbed and weaved the tough questions on card based certification and the Ministry’s true costs to the economy.
“What I asked for and what I’d asked the Ministry of Labour to consider is giving the people of this province a full understanding of the cost of the labour legislation that you enforce, and that would include the cost of lost productivity and downtime. I think it’s a reasonable approach,” Hillier asked.
While the Minister stated that he was proud of his government’s record, Hillier was quick to point out the true costs to employers due to his Ministry’s card-certification process. “I’ll refer to one contractor who was certified under the card-based certification program. It happened when most of his employees were on holidays, when he himself was on holidays. It ended up costing him and his employees $135,000 to decertify, $750,000 in lost revenues, not to mention the fact that his shop went from nine employees down to four,” Hillier informed the Minister
“I think within a $23-million budget, we ought to be able to find some vehicle that provides checks and balances for our contractors, our employees, our employers, our unions; everybody involved should have an effective, quick means to appeal decisions,” Hillier asserted.
The Minister attempted to evade the issue saying that Hillier’s position was “a shift in policy direction. This is not a place that I feel is appropriate, and I would not ever be prepared to do that here at estimates committee” to which Hillier retorted “Are you suggesting that having checks and balances would be a policy shift by the Liberals?”
The Minister’s silence answered the question.
