QUEEN’S PARK – MPP Catherine Fife (Waterloo), Official Opposition Finance critic, released the following statement in response to the Financial Accountability Office’s economic update:
“Yesterday was a significant win for workers and a real victory as Bill 124 is set to be sent to the garbage bin of history where it belongs. Today’s FAO report shows us just a hint of how far Ford’s chaotic decision-making has set us back. There is a real cost to spitefully suppressing the wages of Ontario’s workers.
For years, this Premier denied health, education, and social service workers fair compensation for their work. What a waste of time, money, and public trust for this Conservative government.
Today the Ontario NDP are calling on the Ford government to commit urgent funding to stabilize our public health care and community services, and to recognize the dire recruitment and retention crisis that Bill 124 has created.
For the past months, my Ontario NDP colleagues and I have been traveling across the province with the finance committee, and listening to organizations and workers sound the alarm on the urgent need for public service support in the 2024 budget. We’ve been listening and we’ll be advocating for them in this upcoming budget. I hope Ford has been listening too.”
Background
- Bill 124 was passed by Ford in 2019 and deemed unconstitutional by the Ontario Supreme Court in 2022. Yesterday, the Ontario Court of Appeals upheld that decision – but not before Ford wasted another year fighting workers in court.
- Today’s FAO report revealed significant shortfalls for public service funding, showing how much our public services have suffered under Ford