Dalton McGuinty Must Reveal How Much Ontario Families Will Have to Pay for His Secret OPSEU Deal

QUEEN’S PARK — Today, the Ontario PC Caucus called on Deputy Premier Dwight Duncan to reveal how much Ontario families will be forced to pay for Dalton McGuinty’s secret deal with Ontario's largest public sector union – a deal that will see its employees receive a secret salary top up, conveniently after the next election.

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Records from the Ontario Labour Relations Board reveal that Dalton McGuinty cut a secret deal with leaders of the Ontario Public Sector Employees Union (OPSEU) to give 38,000 employees an additional 1 percent top up to their salaries, and then hired lawyers to try to bury the evidence. Yesterday, a Dalton McGuinty spokesperson defended this breach of the public trust saying other unions would have demanded more in their collective agreements too, had they known about the secret sweetheart deal. This secret deal was already on the books when Dalton McGuinty and his ministers were promising Ontario families they would freeze public sector wages – a promise they’ve broken numerous times in public, let alone with union bosses behind closed doors. It's clear Ontario families can't trust Dalton McGuinty to bring public sector wages in line with Ontario families’ ability to pay. Only a Tim Hudak Ontario PC government will deliver the change Ontario families need and deserve. QUOTES: “Everything about this secret deal shows that Dalton McGuinty will do anything to stay in power. I think it would have been cheaper and more subtle to stand outside polling stations and hand out cash.” --John O’Toole, MPP and PC Critic for Government Services “It shows just how out of touch Dalton McGuinty has become that he sent out a government official to say keeping the deal a secret saved money. It’s only a matter of time before the other unions want to re-open their deals and include the wage top up he secretly gave to OPSEU.” --Lisa MacLeod, MPP and PC Critic for Revenue and Government Accountability QUICK FACTS:

• Documents entered at a hearing before the Ontario Labour Relations Board reveal OPSEU received a secret top up of 1 per cent on top of a scheduled wage increase of 2 per cent for 2012.
• Dalton McGuinty went as far as dispatching his lawyers to the Labour Relations Board to try and cover-up his secret deal to stop Ontario families from learning how much more he will make them pay.
• Even Dalton McGuinty’s lawyers refer to the wage top up as a “secret deal” in the Labour Relations Board documents.

CONTACT: Pema Lhalungpa | pema.lhalungpa@pc.ola.org

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