Education, health and justice 'Higher-than-planned spending'
Remedial wage adjustments among Ontario’s public sector workers as a result of Bill 124 may have led to overspending and the provincial government going over budget, according to a new report.
As of the end of the third quarter of the 2023-2024 fiscal year, Ontario’s spending plan was up $2.3 billion to $199.6 billion, according to the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO).
Combined, over the first three quarters of 2023-24, Ontario planned to spend $132.3 billion.
However, actual unaudited spending was $132.7 billion – $0.4 billion (0.3 per cent) more than planned.
“By sector, higher-than-planned spending was led by education ($2,620 million), health ($1,506 million) and justice ($163 million). Higher-than-planned spending in the education and health sectors is largely due to compensation for the impact of wage restraint under Bill 124, the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019,” read part of the FAO report.
“A portion of the spending related to Bill 124 will not have a fiscal impact in 2023-24 because it was already recorded as a liability in 2022-23.”
A previous CTV News report noted that FAO expected Bill 124 to cost the government about $13.7 billion.
Bill 124 is 'unconstitutional' decision
Commenting on the spending report from FAO, Raghu Venugopal, an emergency physician in Ontario noted via X: “Violating worker's constitutional rights, the Ford government tried to loot $13.7 billion in rightful wages from societal pillars like teachers and nurses. Where did ‘For the People’ go?”
Last month, Ontario’s Court of Appeal released its decision on the controversial Bill 124, finding the law that would cap public sector workers’ wages to be unconstitutional.
And some workers have received retroactive wage increases to compensate them for constrained wages as a result of Bill 124.
On Tuesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said his government will not be appealing the court’s decision as they have “already spent billions of dollars” as a result of the legislation, according to a recent CTV News report.
However, speaking to reporters at an unrelated news conference, the premier said he doesn’t believe the decision should have been made in the courts.
“We just believe it should be government’s decision,” he said, according to the report.
“We say Parliament is supreme, meaning the people are supreme. People elect the Parliament. They should make the decisions.”
Previous criticism of Bill 124
Bill 124 received heavy opposition, with many critics claiming it was a main reason many nurses were leaving public positions to work in the private sector, The Canadian Press (CP) reported.
Labour unions first challenged the Bill 124 in September 2022, claiming the law was unconstitutional since it would invalidate collective bargaining power of workers.
“Bill 124 represents a blatant attack on free and fair collective bargaining,” said Patty Coates, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour. “It interferes with this constitutional right, and tips the scales in favour of employers even before the parties sit down at the bargaining table together.”
In November 2022, the Superior Court of Justice declared Bill 124 “void and of no effect”, which the Ontario government appealed.