Ontario Liberal Party promises 10 paid sick days, higher minimum wage
The Ontario Liberal chief Steven Del Duca launched a plank of his occasion’s 2022 election platform throughout an occasion in Toronto on Saturday.
The insurance policies, which embody guarantees across the minimal wage and paid sick days, had been coined a “plan for financial dignity.”
Del Duca unveiled the plan surrounded by supporters and candidates on the occasion’s first in-person occasion of 2022.
He pledged to lift the minimal wage in Ontario to $16 per hour by Jan. 1, 2023, if elected premier.
He mentioned the occasion would “urgently” develop a “dwelling wage construction” that gives pay that corresponds to the place Ontarians stay within the province.
A regionally-adjusted dwelling wage might be as excessive as $22 an hour in Toronto, advocates have mentioned.
In January, the conservative Ontario authorities raised the minimal wage from $14.35 to $15 per hour, and from $12.55 per hour to $15 for liquor servers.
The NDP has additionally promised a $16 minimal wage as of Oct. 1, with plans to lift it to $20 an hour by 2026.
The announcement additionally included the promise of 10 sick days for Ontario staff.
The Ontario Liberal Get together mentioned it could ban employers from requiring a physician’s notice and reimburse as much as $200 per day to companies for staff who’re off sick.
The occasion mentioned the coverage would value roughly $800 million.
Del Duca unveiled his insurance policies the identical day the Ontario Progressive Conservative Get together rolled out its marketing campaign slogan for 2022: “Get it carried out.”
“Ontario is a province of people that do issues, individuals who construct issues, and individuals who act,” the PC Get together mentioned in a press release.
The Ontario Liberal Get together can be promising to create a “package deal of transportable advantages for all.”
The occasion mentioned the package deal could be inexpensive for everybody and might be utilized by self-employed folks, gig staff and call staff.
Different components of the plan embody insurance policies on gig economic system staff and a two-year moratorium on company taxes for small companies.
The occasion additionally promised a four-day work-week pilot.
The Ontario Liberal Get together cited specialists and mentioned a the four-day work-week might enhance high quality of life and work-life stability.
“We’ll work with companies and labour teams of all sorts to design and consider the mannequin,” the occasion mentioned.
If the pilot “demonstrates potential” it might be expanded throughout the province, creating “many extra Household Day Weekends,” the Ontario Liberals promised.
“The Ontario that I do know, the Ontario that we all know, doesn’t shrink from a problem,” Del Duca mentioned.
— With information from The Canadian Press
