2022 Ontario Prebudget Submission

CLAC is pleased to participate in the prebud­get process and offer recommendations for the 2022 Ontario budget.

After two years of living with the risks and effects of COVID-19, Ontario work­ers are doing their best to cope with new challenges posed by the Omicron variant. Given the high levels of exhaustion, stress, and ongoing staff and labour shortages in the healthcare and construction sectors in particular, our submission focuses on both short- and long-term support for es­sential workers in those industries. In our view, if the province is to experience re­covery in the near-term and a prosperous future in the longer-term, it must swiftly, substantively, and strategically address long-standing deficiencies in healthcare and the labour shortages in both health­care and construction.

Our recommendations can be summarized as follows. 

Upgrade Healthcare

1. Make the $3 and $2 an hour wage increases for PSWs permanent. And extend a $2 an hour wage increase to all other healthcare workers in hospitals, homecare, and long-term care that provide hands-on care.

2. Legislate and fund a minimum annual healthcare wage increase. The method for calculating this wage increase would be the same as that used in the Employment Standards Act, Part IX, Section 23.1 (4) (5).

3. Revise Bill 124 so that all healthcare work­ers are exempt from the one percent cap on wages.

4. Make substantial adjustments to the staff­ing plan for hospitals and long-term care that includes raising the number of staff to be recruited, hired, and deployed. In particular, hospital funding must increase significantly to restore more sustainable worker to patient ratios and provide for wage increases to attract nurses and other care providers back to this profession.

5. Increase spending for long-term care and homecare staffing in the 2022 budget and each budget through at least 2031–2032. It is essential that homecare funding should in­crease significantly to provide for the proper and timely discharge of patients in hospi­tals and prevent unnecessary admissions to hospitals and long-term care homes.

6. Expand WSIB coverage to include workers in retirement homes and residential care facilities.

Upgrade Construction

7. Continue the Skills Development Fund (SDF) to provide funding for skills development initiatives.

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