Ontario won’t use clause even after court strikes down law capping public sector workers’ pay, premier Doug Ford Said Thursday.
But he said his government still plans to appeal against the decision handed down earlier this week.
“I can say it was a very interesting decision,” Ford said at a news conference.
Ontario seeks to appeal court ruling striking down Bill 124
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“I’m just trying to rationalize why the decision came this way, but I have faith in our judiciary system, our judges, and I’m sure they will make the appropriate decision.”
Despite this the clause allows the government to override Charter rights for a period of five years.
Ford’s Progressive Conservative government had recently used a clause in the law that imposed a contract on education workers and prevented them from striking, but the province eventually repealed the law after workers protested the closure of schools. agreed to end the walkout for
Asked if he would use the clause despite Bill 124, Ford said no.
A judge on Monday struck down Bill 124, saying it is unconstitutional because it violates freedom of association and collective bargaining rights.
Groups representing about 780,000 public sector workers challenged the constitutionality of a law passed in 2019 that limited pay increases to one per cent per year for public sector employees over three years.
The province argued that the law did not violate constitutional rights, saying the charter only protected the process of bargaining, not the result. It said the bill was a time-limited approach to help eliminate the deficit.
Ontario further argued that it was under severe financial pressure when implementing the legislation, which it said was a temporary response to budgetary pressures.
That argument fell flat with the judge.
“On my view of the evidence, Ontario was not facing a situation in 2019 that justifies an infringement of Charter rights,” Justice Markus Cohenen wrote.
Health care workers have long demanded the repeal of Bill 124. Unions and doctors have said the bill has contributed to a health care crisis in Ontario, which has seen large numbers of nurses and personal support staff leave the profession after two difficult pandemic years.
Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones denied on Thursday that there had been a “mass exodus” of nurses from the health care system.
But Jones said “this has been a challenging time in our health care system.”
On Thursday, Jones and Ford announced $4.6 million to the Michener Institute in Toronto to provide free tuition to nurses who want to be trained to work in critical care.
Ontario’s health system is under pressure.
Ontario’s pediatric hospitals are seeing an unprecedented increase in children very ill with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, the flu, and COVID-19.
The wave has forced children’s hospitals to cancel surgeries to redeploy staff to emergency departments and intensive care units.
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