The Ford government has unveiled new incentives for staff in its wildland forest firefighting program as Ontario braces for a potentially intense wildfire season.
Minister of Natural Resources Graydon Smith announced $5 million to “attract, retain and recognize” forest firefighters ahead of the official start of the forest fire season on April 1.
The money is being put toward one-off incentives or bonuses for firefighters and crews who sign up to battle forest blazes during the summer.
“Wildland firefighting staff work tirelessly under very difficult conditions to protect the health and safety of Ontarians, their property and our natural resources,” Smith said.
“In addition to this incentive, we continue to explore longer-term strategies and solutions to support attraction and retention of critical jobs for future years.”
The Ford government is labelling the new money as an “attraction and retention incentive” that will be available for those who work in wildland firefighting during the summer of 2024.
Front-line firefighters will be given up to $5,000 each to recognize their role, while other support staff represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) will receive $1,000.
The lump sum was only announced for 2024, meaning it does not represent a wage increase or impact other provisions like pensions.
“This is specifically for 2024,” Smith said. “There’ll be other opportunities through the regular collective bargaining process to look at any future adjustments. I don’t want to presuppose what they would be.”
Asked if he worried a one-time payment could bring problems in 2025 if wages effectively fall, Smith said he didn’t want to “presuppose that the conversations begins and ends in 2024.”
Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the new money was “welcome news” but was still “woefully insufficient” in terms of what wildland firefighters need.
“I certainly appreciate the fact that this has clearly been on the minister’s radar after what happened last year,” Schreiner said.
“But wildland forest firefighters have told us that having that (more permanent) money in the budget is critically important … and so we need to see that money in the budget up front so they can prepare properly to protect us.”
The union representing wildland firefighters called the one-time payment a “drop in the bucket” and a “band-aid response.” The union acknowledged it had agreed to and accepted the bonus but said it thought the process was problematic.
“Instead of being proactive and focusing on real solutions — like recognizing wildland fire workers for the work they do and compensating them properly, or ensuring they have the coverage they need for the risks they face — this government is choosing PR stunts,” OPSEU president JP Hornick said.
“They’re more concerned about suppressing criticism than protecting our air quality and human life.”
The province has been hinting for some time that it may be willing to accept long-standing calls to change the classification of forest firefighters, a move that could see them gain better health care and protections.
“There’s ongoing conversations that are taking place between the ministry, the treasury board and labour,” Smith said on Thursday. “Those conversations will continue. We know that’s an important conversation.”
Schreiner urged Smith to “expedite” the discussions and improve the health care, benefits and pay given to wildland firefighters.
The Ontario NDP said the bonuses fell well short of what was needed.
“Wildland fire rangers’ demands are clear,” Guy Bourgouin, critic for natural resources and forestry, said.
“This lump sum will not fix years of chronic underfunding and disrespect. We need full crews and better retention; our province cannot rely on foreign aid much longer.”
The money is part of broader efforts to address a years-long issue of recruitment and retention with wildland firefighters.
Since at least 2016, the provincial government has requested reports looking at problems with recruitment and retention. Several reports, produced by staff within the program, came to almost identical conclusions: low pay, poor conditions and an overreliance on student labour have turned firefighting from a career into a summer job.
The program is hemorrhaging experienced staff and failing to attract recruits with long-term ambitions, the reports said.
Part of the retention issue identified in internal reports has been the seasonal nature of firefighting. A lack of full-time jobs and salaries made it harder to keep ambitious workers and senior staff, according to the program’s analysis.
Part of the province’s announcement of bonus funding also includes the addition of more than 100 new, full-time jobs “to meet the demands of escalated and increasingly complex fire seasons.”
Smith said there are “a number of seasonal and temporary that have been moved into the full-time classification” and some new jobs had been created from scratch too.
With the official start of the fire season less than a month away, Smith said the province was “at or slightly above” where it was in terms of recruitment last year.
He said he felt the new incentives were “an important piece in terms of attracting more people and being able to form more crews to continue to work to keep crews safe.”
A similar one-time retention payment was granted to nurses in Ontario during the COVID-19 pandemic, although it applied to staff already working who signed up to stay.
The Ontario Nurses Association said it had found the bonus given to nurses “had no impact on retention” when it was rolled out.
“(The) $5000 retention bonus to existing nurses (was) in return for them agreeing to remain working in Ontario,” a spokesperson for the ONA explained.
“Even with all of these and other initiatives, nurses – the unequivocal data demonstrated – continued to leave hospital health care, with significant numbers returning to work as agency nurses at a multiple of their previous pay.”
Smith said his announcement was part of a push to recognize the dangerous work wildland firefighters take on and to ensure they are fairly compensated.
“It’s not easy work, it’s work that most people don’t want to do, quite frankly,” he said.
“But they’re the ones that answered the call, that have stepped up, they’re the ones that are doing it. And we want to recognize them appropriately.”