Million Jobs Act, 2014 Hudak, Tim — Bill 158 (40th Parliament, 2nd Session)

Bill 158, 40-2

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Bill 158, Million Jobs Act, 2014

Hudak, Tim

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Bill 158 2014

Act to promote job creation in Ontario

CONTENTS

Contents

of this Act

Commencement

Short

title

Schedule

Getting

Government Spending under Control Act, 2014

Schedule

More

Jobs with Affordable Energy Act, 2014

Schedule

Tax

Cuts Create Jobs Act, 2014

Schedule

Supporting

Business by Ending the Red Tape Runaround Act, 2014

Schedule

Strengthening

Our Skilled Trades Act, 2014

Schedule

Building

the Best Workforce Act, 2014

Schedule

Abolish

the Ontario College of Trades Act, 2014

Schedule

More

Jobs Through Free Trade Act, 2014

Schedule

Pro-Growth

Approach to Immigration Act, 2014

______________

Her

Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the

Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Contents

of this Act

1. This Act consists of this section, sections 2 and 3

and the Schedules to this Act.

Commencement

(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3),

this Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Same

(2) The Schedules to this Act come into

force as provided in each Schedule.

Same

(3) If a

Schedule to this Act provides that

any provisions are to come into force on a day to be named by proclamation of

the Lieutenant Governor, a proclamation may apply to one or more of those

provisions, and proclamations may be issued at different times with respect to

any of those provisions.

Short

title

3. The

short title of this Act is the Million Jobs Act, 2014 .

Schedule

GETTING GOVERNMENT SPENDING UNDER CONTROL ACT, 2014

Preamble

Since

2003, the rate of annual spending in the Province of Ontario has increased well

in excess of the rate of inflation and population growth leading to alarmingly

high annual deficits and accumulated debt. Without urgent action to put the

Province on a sustainable path, by the fiscal year 2017-2018 the annual deficit

is projected to grow to a staggering $30.2 billion and accumulated debt to

$411.4 billion.

The

interest alone on that debt will assume an even greater share of the Province's

program spending, which should be focused on core services such as health care,

education, infrastructure and justice, not paying interest on debt. In order

for Ontario to compete internationally and attract investment, it is imperative

that the Government get its spending under control, balance the budget and pay

down its mounting debt.

is equally imperative that the Government lead by example. Since 2010, the

present Government has consulted fully with its employees and bargaining agents

representing those employees and solicited their suggestions for achieving ways

to reduce the annual deficit and accumulated debt. The Province's fiscal plans,

as laid out in its budgets and other documents, have repeatedly and publicly

made clear the necessity of reining in the costs of human resource compensation

in the public sector. Those costs account for more than half of all program

spending.

date, according to Ministry of Labour figures, the Province has been unable to

achieve zero increase in the costs of human resource compensation in the public

sector. For example, Government Bill 115 was enacted on September 11, 2012 as

the Putting Students First Act, 2012 but was

repealed on January 23, 2013. It would have imposed a two-year wage freeze on

boards, employees of boards and employee bargaining agents in the education

sector starting, for most employees, on September 1, 2012. Private Member's

Bill 5 ( Comprehensive Public Sector Compensation Freeze

Act, 2013 ) was introduced on February 25, 2013 but has not been enacted.

As a result, on its current path, the Province is unlikely to achieve the

structural change in spending that is necessary to balance the budget by the

fiscal year 2017-2018.

that end and to better reflect the current ability of the private sector economy

to pay its employees, the Government must impose a comprehensive freeze of at

least two years on all salaries and compensation paid to employees in the

public sector.

Definitions

1. In

this Act,

"compensation"

means all forms of payment, benefits and perquisites paid or provided, directly

or indirectly, to or for the benefit of a person who performs duties and

functions that entitle the person to be paid, and includes discretionary

payments; ("rémunération")

"compensation plan" means the provisions, however

established, for the determination and administration of a person's

compensation; ("régime de rémunération")

"employee", "employer" and "public sector" have the same

meaning as in subsection 2 (1) of the Public Sector Salary

Disclosure Act, 1996 ; ("employ é ", "employeur",

"secteur public")

"pay range" means a range of rates of pay; ("échelle

salariale")

"rate of pay" means the rate of remuneration or, where no

such rate exists, any fixed or ascertainable amount of remuneration. ("taux de

salaire")

Compliance

with this Act

2. Every

employer shall comply with this Act with respect to the employer's employees.

Pay

freeze

(1) The

rate of pay for an employee employed in a position in the public sector shall

not be increased before the second anniversary of the day this Act receives

Royal Assent, except as permitted by subsection (3).

Pay

range

(2) The maximum amount within a

pay range, if any, for an employee employed in a position in the public sector

and any steps within the pay range shall not be increased before the second

anniversary of the day this Act receives Royal Assent.

Increase

in minimum wage

(3) If the rate of pay for an

employee employed in a position in the public sector falls below the minimum

wage established under

Part IX of the Employment Standards

Act, 2000 , the rate of pay may be increased to match the minimum wage.

Benefits

freeze

(1) A

benefit, perquisite or payment provided to an employee employed in a position

in the public sector under a compensation plan as it existed on the day this

Act receives Royal Assent shall not be increased before the second anniversary

of that day.

Same,

other benefits

(2) Despite subsection (1), no benefit,

perquisite or payment shall be provided to an employee employed in a position

in the public sector in recognition of any of the following matters relating to

the employee, even if the benefit, perquisite or payment is authorized under

the compensation plan as it existed on the day this Act receives Royal Assent:

1. Length

of time in employment.

2. An

assessment of performance.

3. Successful

completion of a program or course of professional or technical education.

new or additional benefits

(3) No new or additional

benefits, perquisites or payments, as compared to those authorized under a

compensation plan as it existed on the day this Act receives Royal Assent,

shall be provided to an employee employed in a position in the public sector

under the compensation plan before the second anniversary of the day this Act

receives Royal Assent.

Overpayment

of compensation

5. Compensation

paid to an employee in the public sector in contravention of

section 3 or 4 is a

debt due to the employer and the employer may recover it by any remedy or other

procedure available to the employer by law, including by setting it off against

compensation owing to the employee that the employer has not yet paid to the

employee.

Conflict

with this Act

(1) This

Act prevails over any provision of a compensation plan and, if there is a

conflict between this Act and a compensation plan, the compensation plan is

inoperative to the extent of the conflict.

Same,

other laws

(2) This Act prevails over any

other Act and over any regulation, by-law or other statutory instrument.

Exception

(3) Nothing in this Act shall

be interpreted or applied so as to reduce any right or entitlement under the Human Rights Code , the Pay Equity

Act or

section

42 or 44 of the Employment Standards Act, 2000 .

Same

(4) Nothing in this Act shall

be interpreted or applied so as to prevent the application of the insurance

plan under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997

to an individual to whom the insurance plan did not apply on the day this Act

receives Royal Assent.

Compliance

reports by employer

(1) Every

employer shall give the Minister responsible for the administration of this Act

the reports that are prescribed concerning the employer's compliance with this

Act.

Submission

of reports

(2) Each report must be

submitted in the prescribed form and manner and within the prescribed period.

Contents

of reports

(3) Each report shall include a

statement signed by the employer's highest ranking officer certifying whether

the employer has complied with this Act.

Regulations

8. The

Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations,

(

a) governing

how rates of pay, pay ranges and benefits, perquisites and payments provided

under a compensation plan are to be valued;

(

b) specifying

any matter that is described as prescribed in this Act.

Commencement

9. The

Act set out in this

Schedule comes into force on the day the Million Jobs Act, 2014 receives Royal Assent.

Short

title

10. The

short title of the Act set out in this

Schedule is the Getting

Government Spending under Control Act, 2014 .

Schedule

more jobs with Affordable ENERGY Act, 2014

Electricity Act, 1998

(1) Clause

25.32 (2) (

b) of the Electricity Act, 1998 is

amended by striking out "or

section 25.35" at the end.

(2) Paragraph 3 of subsection 25.32 (6) of

the Act is amended by striking out "or

section 25.35".

Section

25.35 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Feed-in

tariff program

25.35

(1) In

this section,

"feed-in

tariff program" means the program set out in this section, as it read

immediately before its re-enactment by

section 2 of

Schedule 2 to the Million Jobs Act, 2014 ; ("programme de tarifs de rachats

garantis")

"large-scale renewable energy source" has the meaning

prescribed by the regulations. ("source d'énergie renouvelable abondante")

Reconsideration

of contracts

(2) If the OPA entered into a contract for

the procurement of energy from a large-scale renewable energy source under the

feed-in tariff program and, as of the day this

section comes into force, the

renewable energy source has not been connected to the IESO-controlled grid, no

person shall connect the renewable energy source to the grid unless,

(

a) the

Minister has consulted with the municipality in which the renewable energy

source is or would be located about the impact of the renewable energy source

on the municipality; and

(

b) after

consulting with the municipality, the Minister has notified in writing all

parties to the contract that the renewable energy source may be connected to

the IESO-controlled grid.

Conditions

or restrictions

(3) The Minister may impose conditions and

restrictions when authorizing a connection under clause (2) (b).

Minister's

power to prohibit connection to grid

(4) After consulting with a municipality

under clause (2) (a), the Minister may make a decision to prohibit the connection

of the renewable energy source to the IESO-controlled grid and, in that case,

he or she shall notify all parties to the contract of the decision.

Application,

renewable energy source not in municipality

(5) Subsection (2) does not apply to a

renewable energy source that is not located in a municipality.

3. Subsection

114 (1.3) of the Act is amended by adding the following clause:

(

i) prescribing

the meaning of "large-scale renewable energy source" for the purposes of

section 25.35.

Environmental

Protection Act

Part

V.0.1 of the Environmental Protection Act is

amended by adding the fo

Document details

Collection	Ontario — Bills
Citation	Bill 158, 40-2
Type	bill
Volume / chapter	p40 s2 bill 158 html
Language	en
Format	html
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	ea3dd26d35b6de27d7ffd72a88518e85d2d6b0c2

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