Counting The Ways

 

How much does Doug Ford covet Ontarian's votes? Let me count the ways.

In the run-up to this June's provincial election, the premier is sparing no expense (while at the same time eliminating huge amounts of revenue) to buy at least enough votes to ensure a return of his government. 

Democracy, for all of its vaunted benefits, can be ugly.

As I noted in a post last month, Mr. Ford is already spending over $1 billion in forgone revenue in his avid pursuit of our support. He assumes that the surrendering of these funds by eliminating licence plate sticker renewals and toll road fees will be pleasing to many; of course, no one has explained how that treasury gap will be filled, but my guess is, post-election, through 'fiscal discipline,' i.e., cuts.

But the blandishments don't end there. Through Monte McNaughton, Minister of  Labour, Training and Skills Development, the Ford government has become the friend of the worker. Many of the measures announced thus far have been long overdue, such as the January minimum wage raise to $15 dollars an hour, a previous Liberal government measure Ford scrapped after coming to office in 2018. Another is the Digital Platform Workers' Rights Act which, on the surface, looks progressive. The Act says it

will guarantee a regular minimum wage for individuals employed by app-based services, such as ride-share drivers and couriers, which they will receive on top of their tips. It also makes it mandatory for workers to receive a recurring pay period and pay day while prohibiting tips from being withheld by platform operators.

“Every worker in the province deserves to earn at least minimum wage, and these companies have a responsibility—and they're going to be forced by law—to clearly tell workers on digital platforms how and when they're going to be paid.”

But as the saying goes, the devil is in the details, and Armine Yalnizyan smells sulphur, concluding it  

is actually anti-worker legislation. It denies basic worker protections to gig workers by creating a second tier of labour rights for the people whose employer says they are independent contractors, regardless of what employees say. That ensures these workers are unlikely to be paid minimum wage, get overtime, vacation or severance pay, be covered by occupational health and safety rules, or be able to organize for better.

The reason this legislation is actually regressive and will hurt gig workers lies in the fact that a decision recently handed down stated that 

an Uber Eats driver is already an “employee” under the Ontario Employment Standards Act.

Law professor David Dorey says that 

the finding of “employee” status led to an order for Uber to pay the courier close to $1000 for various violations of the ESA, including a failure to pay the minimum wage for all hours that the courier was “waiting or holding himself ready to work”. 

As I understand the proposed new Ontario law, only “engaged” time is counted as working, meaning the time that a driver is actively completing an order. As a result, an Uber Eats driver … would be entitled to less wages under the government’s new law than they are already entitled to under the existing ESA. 

Lest health-care providers feel left out of this 'largesse', Mr. Ford has something for them as well, not an increase in salary, but $5000 retention bonuses for nurses. An obvious bribe, it will be paid in two installments, one before and one after the election.

As well, and no doubt important for all those who "love freedom," is the pending elimination of all Covid-19 restrictions in Ontario. But at least our chief Medical officer, Dr. Kieran Moore, is asking people to be kind to those who still want to wear masks.

And I suspect that the final tier on the 'inducement' cake Ford is baking for his voters will come soon: the announcement of a deal with the federal government for $10-a-day daycare funding. Up to this point, the province has insisted it needs more than the $10.2 billion on offer, but I rather think that will not be an obstacle for too much longer, given the proximity of our election.

As always, a healthy democracy depends upon an informed electorate and viable choices; Ford is likely (and probably rightly) counting on a high level of ignorance, something that is increasingly becoming the norm. And given the unpalatable and largely unprincipled nature of the two main opposition parties in our province, we are effectively offered little to whet either our imaginations or our enthusiasms.