Public Policy Update — Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak Won’t Put “Right-to-Work” in Upcoming Election Platform
Ontario PC Party Leader Tim Hudak announced last week that his party’s platform for the expected spring election would not contain proposals to change the Rand Formula. Over the past few years, Mr Hudak had spoken frequently, and issued a White Paper describing the need for “Right-to-Work” legislation that would allow workers in a unionized job site to opt out of contributions to the union.
With this announcement, many other proposals made by his party regarding Ontario’s labour legislation could still find their way into the PC platform, including:
- Expanding the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities by bringing the College of Trades back into the Ontario government
- Imposing a 1:1 apprenticeship ratio on all trades
- “Open-shop” legislation exempting municipalities, school boards and other public bodies from ICI collective bargaining obligations
- Allowing private insurance companies to compete with WSIB
- Requiring secret ballot votes in all union certification votes
A few quotes of interest from today’s speech by Mr Hudak:
On apprenticeship ratios:
Now, some of you may have seen shows like ER, and Grey’s Anatomy. The ones where a flock of medical interns follow an attending physician around to learn the trade. Do you see five physicians for every intern? It’s more like the other way around, isn’t it?
On “Right-to-Work” legislation:
This “right to work” issue just doesn’t have the scope or the power to fix the issues that are threatening 100% of the manufacturing jobs in Ontario. So if we’re elected, we’re not going to do it – we’re not going to change the so-called “Rand Formula”. Our agenda is a lot bigger, and a lot more ambitious, than that.
The entire speech is available on the PC Party website, by clicking here.
It may also be of interest to note that Michigan Governor Rick Snyder did not support Right-to-Work legislation in his 2010 election, and opposed the legislation for two years, before changing his position and signing Michigan’s Right-to-Work Bill into law in December 2012. OCS will continue to monitor policies expected in the platforms of Ontario’s main parties for the expected spring election.
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For more information, please contact:
Perry Chao, Senior Policy Analyst
Ontario Construction Secretariat
940 The East Mall, Suite 120
Toronto, ON M9B 6J7