Ontario Premier Doug Ford admits his government has already spent “billions of dollars” compensating unionized workers for capped wages under legislation it introduced to reign in public spending.
Speaking at a press conference in Mississauga on Tuesday, Ford addressed his government’s appeal court defeat over Bill 124.
The law was introduced in 2019 to reduce spending, capping public sector wages at one per cent per year for three years.
It was struck down as unconstitutional by an Ontario court at the end of 2022, a decision the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld on Monday.
After the ruling, the province said it would not take its appeal any further and would instead repeal the legislation. It also promised “urgent” regulations to temporarily exclude groups.
“We just believe it should be government’s decision, not the courts,” Ford said Tuesday.
“I always say parliament is supreme, meaning the people are supreme, people elect the parliament, they should make the decisions.”
The premier then pivoted to say he would still respect the court’s decision, admitting the province is already paying for Bill 124.
“We’ve already signed agreements with the nurses and a lot of the teachers unions,” he said. “We’ve already spent billions of dollars.”
Since Bill 124 was ruled unconstitutional at the end of 2022, the bill was effectively void, allowing several unions to negotiate backpay deals.
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Retroactive pay increases have been handed to groups including civil servants, hospital workers and college faculty staff.
A Tuesday estimate from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario said the province would likely have to pay out $13.7 billion in wage increases now that Bill 124 is set to be repealed.
That calculation assumes all union and non-union staff who were capped under the law will receive some kind of increase.
Ford said the government is in a better position to handle the cost than it was in 2019 when it introduced the law.
“When we came into office in 2018, this province was a total disaster financially,” the premier claimed.
“And now as we move forward because of the great work of our team and the great work of the finance minister, we’re a lot more financially stable.”
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