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(Reuters)
Ontario ranks
last for good
jobs: Report
TORONTO — Ontarians on
the job hunt could be in for an
especially long and tough haul,
according to a report released on
Nov. 19.
The province is home to the
highest proportion of minimum
wage earners and one of the
worst unemployment rates com-
pared to the rest of Canada, said
the report from Ontario Com-
mon Front (a coalition of 90-plus
labour and community groups
concerned with inequality).
"Ontario is dead last in fund-
ing for social programs and,
by nearly every measure, it is
trailing every other province in
income equality and poverty
reduction," said Natalie Mehra,
who authored the report.
In it, Mehra culled data from
Statistics Canada to show three
significant shifts in Ontario, in-
cluding a changing labour force,
the erosion of income transfer
programs and cuts to social pro-
grams. The result is a very differ-
ent standard of living for Ontar-
ians, she noted.
"While it is hard to start a fam-
ily anywhere in Canada, young
families in Ontario are strug-
gling with the largest student
debt loads, the most expensive
child care, the worst access to
affordable housing and highest
costs for health care — all at a
time when good jobs are being
replaced with precarious, part-
time and temporary employ-
ment," Mehra said.
For instance, Ontario's part-
time workforce has ballooned
from five per cent below the
rest of the population to where
it stands now, at eight per cent
above other provinces. There are
now 1.7 million people earning
within $4 of minimum wage and
over the past five years, cuts to
public services amounts to more
than $7 billion in per-person
funding, according to the report.
The report also suggested
Ontario's long-term unemploy-
ment rate is the second worst
in Canada and there has been a
38 per cent jump in poverty over
the past two decades, with one
in five children living below the
poverty line.
Add to that some of the coun-
try's highest tuition fees and
child care costs and the future
of meaningful work in Ontario
becomes muddled, said Sid
Ryan, president of the Ontario
Federation of Labour.
"When I look at the fact
one-third of Ontario's work-
force are earning at or near
the minimum wage, I feel
sick for the future. We can-
not sacrifice youth and
young families on the altar
of deficit reduction and corpo-
rate tax giveaways," Ryan said.
"It is time for a real plan to create
meaningful jobs to support the
next generation."
Though Ontario Common
Front credited Premier Kathleen
Wynne with taking steps toward
closing the equality gap — in-
cluding upping the minimum
wage, pushing for a provincial
pension plan and reducing child
poverty — there is still a long way
to go before the province is on
par with others.
"If there is good news to be ex-
tracted from this report, it is that
every other province in Canada
has charted a better course than
Ontario. This serves as proof
that every government is capa-
ble of making different choices,"
Mehra added.
Doctors in Britain's state-funded health service recently voted to stage their fi rst mass walkout in 40 years
as they clash with their employer over issues of pay and conditions.
LABOUR LENS
