- LiUNA! Local 3000: Empower People, Change the World.
In March, our members came up with a list of questions to put to the political parties vying to form Ontario's next provincial government. Here are the answers we received back:
If elected, will your government repeal Bill 124, which restricts pay increases for frontline health care and social service workers to just 1% per year and denies them their right to freely negotiate their wages with their employer?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Yes, repeal of Bill 124.
Liberals: Yes, repeal of Bill 124.
NDP: Yes, repeal of Bill 124.
If elected, will your government provide immediate and permanent wage increases of at least $3 per hour for all front line health care and social service workers instead of offering random, temporary pay increases or "retention bonuses" to certain, arbitrarily-chosen positions?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party:Minimum wage of $25/hr for PSWs & $35 for RPNs "until bargaining is finalized".
Liberals: Minimum wage of $25/hr for PSWs; pandemic pay made permanent for workers supporting people w/ developmental disabilities; additional wages for anyone on a short-staffed shift.
NDP:Immediate and permanent PSW wage increase of $5/hr; wage review and adjustment for all positions in long-term care within the first year.
Will your government reverse the previous government's removal of paid sick leave for all Ontario workers?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party:Yes.
Liberals: Yes..
NDP:Yes.
Will your government implement a minimum of ten paid sick days for all Ontario workers, as the COVID pandemic demonstrated is required to keep people safe from harm, including part time workers?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Yes, ten paid sick days for all workers.
Liberals: Yes, ten paid sick days; could also be used for major life events.
NDP:Yes, ten paid personal emergency days for all workers.
Will your government commit to providing paid mental health leave for frontline health care and support workers in addition to paid sick days?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Yes
Liberals: Will guarantee access to mental health services for all health care professionals.
NDP:Will bring mental health care into OHIP coverage.
Will your government commit to provide paid emergency leave for all Ontario workers?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party:Yes, ten paid sick days that could also be used for emergencies.
Liberals: Yes, ten paid days that can be used as sick days or for major life events.
NDP:Yes, ten paid days for all workers.
If elected, will your government prioritize funding public health care or will you allow Ontario to continue to be the province with the worst-funded, poorest-equipped health care system in the country?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Small investments to improve system, focusing on health promotion, early intervention, and mental health
Liberals: Hiring of 100,000 more health care workers; increase admissions to nursing programs by 10% a year; free tuition for medical/nursing students willing to work long-term in a rural/remote setting; $1 billion to increase surgery capacity; $3 billion over four years to mental health and addiction services
NDP: Reverse plans for more health care cuts; bring mental health services under OHIP; expand health care and hospital access in underserved areas; pass a Public Health Accountability Act
If elected, will your government ensure that all health care settings are properly funded to guarantee livable wages and full-time hours for staff as well as adequate staffing levels?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Nursing task force to look at recruitment/rentention; Guaranteed PPE access; More f/t positions; more Nurse Practicioners in LTC, mental health & acute care
Liberals: 100,000 new health care hires; a target of 70% of long term care jobs to be full-time; student loan forgiveness for nurses, PSWs, & other workers on the COVID frontline
NDP: Repeal of Bill 124; increase hospital funding; recruitment & retention campaign for nurses & other health care workers for hospitals & public health units
What concrete measures would your government take to address the dangers of short-staffing in Ontario hospitals, long-term care homes, shelters, and other health care and support settings?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: expedite credentials for internationally-trained nurses; increase number of nurse practioners; expand RPN > RN bridging programs; provide mental health services to nurses
Liberals: Train & hire 100,000 new workers; train & hire 3000 new mental health/addictions professionals; increase admission to nursing programs by 10% annually
NDP: Hiring of 10,000 additional PSWs; raise for PSWs; hiring of 30,000 nurses; expedite credentials for internationally-trained health care workers;
If elected, will your government reverse the previous government’s plans to privatize health care in Ontario? Will you reverse the previous government’s policy of providing taxpayer handouts to privately-owned health care operations to build more privately-owned health care operations?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Yeah, health care should remain public.
Liberals: Yes, reversal of plans to privatize health care in Ontario.
NDP: Yes, reversal of plans to privatize health care in Ontario.
If elected, will your government make sure that every long-term care home has regular inspections at least once a year or will it continue to cut inspections of long-term care homes down to the rate of just nine homes inspected (out of 626 LTC homes) per year under the previous government?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Supports more vigilant auditing & inspections of LTC homes; will support funding to help seniors age at-home
Liberals: Zero-tolerance sanctions applying in long term care inspections; audits to verify funding is spent on resident care and services; new residents not admitted into homes that are not properly staffed; four hours of direct care per day for long term care residents + wifi, pharmacy services, air conditioning, and other standards of care.
NDP: Yes + creation of an accountability system for homes that fail inspections + a Senior’s Advocate position in the Ontario Legislature.
If elected, will your government make issuing new operating licenses to long-term care homes dependent on the company’s track record of caring for or neglecting their residents, or will you continue the current policy of ignoring that information and rewarding private LTC operators with the worst records of resident abuse with operating licenses?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Will not provide operating permits to for-profits who don’t meet standards of care.
Liberals: An targeted end date to private long-term care of 2028; no renewal of operating licenses for for-profit long-term care homes; will negotiate & finance transfer of existing for-profit homes to non-profit entities & municipalities
NDP: Phase-out of privately-owned long-term care over eight years to a non-profit system. Contracts with private companies will be transferred to non-profits and community health organizations when they are up for renewal.
If elected, will your government expand OHIP include dental, vision, and pharmaceutical coverage?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Work with federal gov’t. to implement universal dental care and ensure federal gov’t. brings in pharmacare; aims to include vision care in OHIP
Liberals: Create a portable benefits plan covering workers without an employer benefits plan; provide drug coverage through OHIP+ & the Ontario Drugs Benefit program for anyone not covered by the portable benefits plan.
NDP: Introduction of universal pharmacare in Ontario + expansion of dental care plan
If elected, will your government provide expanded health benefits for Ontario’s part-time workers?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Will develop portable, extended health benefits for gig workers, retail, and hospitality that follow worker even if they change employers
Liberals: Creation of a portable benefits plan covering dental, vision, mental health & prescription drugs.
NDP: Introduction of health benefits, including dental benefits, no matter if someone is a full-time, part-time, casual, or contract worker.
Will your government provide free child care for Ontario’s front line health care and support workers?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: $10/day child care
Liberals: $10/day child care; discounts for child care to be made retroactive to January 1st, 2022
NDP: $10/day child care
If elected, will your government replace the warehouse full of N-95 masks the previous governments allowed to expire and throw out without replacing prior to the COVID-19 pandemic?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Would call for a commission to look at Ontario’s COVID response, incl. a rotating storage of PPE & local capacity to manufacture N-95 masks
Liberals: Public inquiry into Ontario’s COVID response; maintain proof of vaccination infastructure; ensure Ontario has stockpile of rapid tests & masks
NDP: Public inquiry into Ontario’s COVID response
If elected, will your government commit to implementing a permanent Universal Basic Income or Guaranteed Livable Income program, after witnessing how fragile our economy and job market is to things like pandemics/lockdowns or even tariffs and sanctions?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Phase-in a guaranteed annual income program.
Liberals: Yes, restart the Basic Income pilot project.
NDP: Re-start the Basic Income pilot project & make decisions based on evidence from that.
Would your government lead Canada in evaluating the current work week and making adjustments to provide all employees with a better work-life balance?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Using a “measure of Well-being” instead of GDP data to make changes
Liberals: Introduce a four-day workweek pilot project.
NDP: Introduce a four-day workweek pilot project.
What would your government do to ensure that all Ontario workers have adequate funds and resources to enjoy retirement after the age of 65?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Would require all company pension plans to be fully-funded and to eliminate pension benefits within five years
Liberals: Top-up Old Age Security by $1000/year; expand Seniors’ Home Safety tax credit; make the Ontario Caregiver tax credit refundable, tax-free, & paid out over the year; $2 billion increase for home & community care; fund 15,000 new assisted living homes; merge gov’t’s home care functions into one ministry, focused on seniors
NDP: Tax freeze for low-income & middle class families; $400/month for informal caregivers; investements in home care
How would your government address racial and gender bias in its current policies and hiring practices?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Reverse cuts to the Anti-Racism Directive; mandate training on racism & discrimination to health care workers, educators, and public servants; establish a safe harassment/discrimination reporting system in the public service; cultural responsiveness training for health care professionals; task force to develop policies & initiatives to address racist, homophobic, and transphobic barriers to accessing health care; restore funding for Indigenous curriculum program in schools; mandatory collection of race-based data in schools; implantation of protocol for reporting racism in schools
Liberals: Reverse cuts to anti-racism programs; refresh Ontario’s 2017 anti-Black racism strategy; $5 million for Black historical sites & community centres + $10 million for Black entrepreneurs & small businesses; extend limitation for filing human rights complaints from one to five years; pass the Our London Family act to address Islamophobia and racism
NDP: Mandatory anti-racism/anti-bias training for public employees & legislators; all public infrastructure projects come with community benefit agreements to increase access to opportunities for marginalized communities; collect data on race across all Ontario ministries to help address systemic inequities; gender-based analysis of government programs, policies, and legislation; update & enforce the Pay Equity Act
What would your government do about the rising cost of living, for example gas prices?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Cut transit fares by 50%; raise minimum wage to $16/hour in 2022 & $1 increases annually thereafter; funding for green home retrofits.
Liberals: Increase minimum wage to $16/hour in 2023; Reduce transit fares to $1 & transit passes to $40; remove HST on prepared food below $20
NDP: Direct the Ontario Energy Board to regulate wholesale & retail markups to end price gouging on gas; introduce an independent consumer watchdog
What will your government do to address the lack of affordable housing in Ontario?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Build 160,000 affordable housing units, including 60,000 supportive homes; renew 260,000 community housing units over the next decade; use public land to build affordable rental house & low-cost long-term leases; develop a down payment support program; support alternatives like cohousing, tiny homes, and rent-to-own; land speculation tax starting at 20% on 3rd home;
Liberals: 1.5 million new homes built over ten years; 138,000 affordable homes built; empty homes tax on vacant homes; crack down on pre-construction condo flippers with a publicly-accesible beneficial homeownership registry; develop surplus provincial lands; $360 million in annual funding to run and improve social, supportive, and community housing; $100 million annually for a “housing first” approach to homelessness
NDP: Creation of 100,000 affordable housing units; return of rent controls for all units; shared equity loans for first-time home buyers; encourage more laneway houses & basement suites; use land speculation taxes to fund affordable housing; co-op housing funding
PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD GET RID OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS!!!!
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Research the impact on trade with New York state & other jurisdictions if we abandon Daylight Savings Time.
Liberals: Will consider feedback from stakeholders to develop evidence-based policies
NDP: Has supported a private member’s bill to end Daylight Savings Time
How should Ontarians hold your accountable to your election promises if we elect you to form the next provincial government?
Conservatives: No response.
Green Party: Regular public forums.
Liberals: Ranked ballot system for elections.
NDP: Mixed-member proportional voting system; tighten rules around lobbying & campaign finance