Fair & Prosperous? Ontario's 2013 Budget in Review

Yesterday the 2013 Ontario Budget was introduced. I wanted to put out some commentary on what's contained within the budget: the strengths and weaknesses and where we're heading as a province. I'm going to review the impacts arising out of the budget on issues related to youth unemployment, labour relations, and poverty reduction.

Overall, this is an austerity budget which continues to inflict significant harm on the most vulnerable segments of the population such as public sectors workers, the working poor, students, and people receiving social assistance.  There is no chance Andrea Horwath, the NDP leader, will risk an election given the NDP lacks a war-chest and is plummeting in the polls - so what we're left with is an austerity-lite budget based on creeping neoliberal orthodoxy.

Youth Labour Market Strategy

A marquee piece of the budget is a new "Youth Jobs Strategy" which is a demand-side labour market intervention. The strategy will dole out $295 million via four separate funds. The main thrust comes via the "Ontario Youth Employment Fund" which will fund up to 25,000 jobs for youths. The exact structure of the program is unclear, but it appears that the program will use wage subsidies and grants to fund employment and training opportunities. 

The other three funds deal with entrepreneurship, innovation, and connectivity. Of particular note is the $30 million "Ontario Youth Innovation Fund". This will fund post-doctoral research focused on industrial research and commercialization. It will also provide funding to centres at post-secondary institutions which focus on start-ups (i.e. Ryerson's DMZ or Waterloo's VeloCity).

It's good to see that youth un(der)employment has gotten some funding from the government, but given the scale and depth of the generational scarring inflicted in the wake of the global financial crisis this should only be considered a start rather than a "final solution". There's certainly an acknowledgement from the Wynne government about the problems facing youths - this is a complete 180 from the McGuinty years which were characterized by a profound rejection of any sort of intergenerational equity.

Public-Sector Labour Relations and Pensions

One part of the budget that I don't like is the Wynne government's insistence that public sector workers not receive any wage increases until 2018; however, I suspect this is posturing given the unlikelihood of any further legislated collective agreements following the disaster that was Bill 115. There's also some significant changes to pension plans in the public sector with the government moving towards pooled asset management which was main recommendation arising from the Morneau Report released last fall.

Proactive Workplace Inspections

If you follow me on Twitter you'll know that one of my big pet peeves is that the Ministry of Labour isn't terribly good at enforcing the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and they simply refuse to conduct proactive inspections of companies that are illegally exploiting unpaid interns. This might change though given that an additional $3 million in permanent funding has been committed to hire additional Employment Standards Officers and conduct proactive inspections.  The Workers' Action Centre in Toronto has been pushing for this funding for years and they're efforts should be commended.

Social Assistance

I typically don't discuss social welfare policy on this blog. I have some strong opinions in this area as I worked in a number of legal clinics during law school and witnessed firsthand Ontario's primitive and cruel approach to "helping" the poor. The changes announced in the budget amount to little more that scraps for people living in poverty. There was a minimal increase in how much money people receive each month and some cosmetic changes to what people can earn before the government starts taxing clawing back their income. The budget also indicates that parts of the Lankin-Sheikh report will begin to be implemented over the coming year. This was a major report on the state of social welfare policy in Ontario and it contained some controversial proposals that some might say are regressive.

What Wasn't In The Budget?

One thing that troubles me about the budget is that it doesn't propose measures to help some of the most vulnerable groups in our society. There was a lack of concrete action on increasing the minimum wage in Ontario - it's pretty hard to survive in Toronto, Hamilton, or Ottawa when you're only making $10.25 (the current price of a beer at the Skydome). Following along in that vein is a lack of action on precarious employment in Ontario. Wynne has been sitting on two major reports on precarious employment (the United Way's report and the Law Commission of Ontario's report), but has yet to announce any form of response. Finally, students continue to be shafted with excessive tuition fees - this is an issue that needs a sustainable solution and it's high time Ontario examines eliminating tuition fees altogether (like the rest of the world).