Ontario's new Conservative government is cancelling many of the decent work laws that buoyed up the economic stability and work quality of families across Ontario. They are also freezing the minimum wage at $14 until October 2020 before indexing it to inflation. This 33-month freeze on the minimum wage is a real-dollar loss for families that are already treading water financially.

When the government declares Ontario "open for business," what it really means is forcing more Ontarians into precarious, low-wage work.

1.7 million Ontarians earn at or near the minimum wage. For these workers, tough choices are the norm: pay the bills or buy medication? Get school supplies or pay for transit tokens? A higher minimum wage and decent work laws made those painful decisions unnecessary for many.

With the decent work laws set to be repealed, many workers and their families will not only be unable to get ahead, they will be left further behind. No longer will parents have access to paid emergency or sick leave. No longer are these families anticipating what they might do with another $1,850 a year after a $15 minimum wage arrives. Now, that raise won't arrive until long after 2020, when it will be too little, too late.

Workers need paid personal emergency days so that they can afford to stay home when they are ill. Equal pay for equal work lessens Ontario's gender pay gap and means families can reliably predict what a job will bring in. Workers counting on the fairer scheduling provision in Bill 148 will be stuck juggling the schedules of multiple jobs and family commitments without any sense of stability.

The sad truth is that many workers who felt the improvements from our updated labour and employment laws may now be pushed onto social assistance.

Creating even more uncertainty is the government's plan for social assistance. It has already reversed a modest three per cent rate increase that was to take effect this fall and 18 other rule changes that would have improved the lives of people on social assistance. Instead, it only provided a 1.5 per cent increase, and it will announce a new direction for social assistance on Nov. 8. We know this government will focus on moving people from social assistance to work.

By weakening both employment standards and the social safety net, the government is perpetuating a cycle where workers are trapped moving between low-waged work and social assistance, with neither providing a path out of poverty.

Freezing wages and lowering workplace standards will create a perfect storm that will leave more Ontarians in poverty and ensure that our government is increasing its own long-term costs.

By telling corporations that they can ignore workers' rights, the government is prioritizing the profits of big business at the expense of the well-being of workers and their families.

This is the wrong way to go. The higher minimum wage and decent work laws did not hurt Ontario's economy. Hours worked increased, especially in the low-waged food services sector. Since Bill 148 came into effect Ontario has added 88,000 new jobs.

Stronger labour laws and the increased minimum wage have also been credited as one of the reasons that visits to Ontario's food banks declined in 2018. The vast majority of Ontarians support raising the minimum wage, including 42 per cent of PC supporters.

Premier Ford's changes offer no respite for the workers who suffer most when they are not protected by the law: women workers, young workers, Indigenous workers, racialized workers and workers with a disability.

Our decent work laws are designed to help Ontarians live prosperous, dignified lives, reduce stress, improve health outcomes, and ensure that all Ontarians are treated fairly in the workplace.

These laws have helped millions of Ontarians keep their heads above water, and increase their spending power while strengthening the economy.

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The current government's proposals will take Ontario in the opposite direction.

Chris Buckley is President of the Ontario Federation of Labour and Mary Marrone is Director of Advocacy & Legal Services, Income Security Advocacy Centre

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