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The NJC’s Ron Cochrane said the Liberals’ promise to negotiate a sick leave deal, bargain in “good faith” and “finalize financial plans upon completion of negotiations, not at the beginning” created high expectations that will have to be managed.

“There have been so many promises made and expectations created … that if this new relationship is going to work, we all have to manage expectations. These guys aren’t magicians,” said Cochrane.

The Liberals’ fiscal plan, however, is banking on the $900 million the Conservatives booked in savings for 2015-16 by eliminating sick-leave banks. If the Liberals don’t proceed with these reforms, the savings will have to be rolled back and added to the deficits the new government plans to run.

The Conservatives also projected their sick leave reforms would save $200 million next year and the year after, and $100 million in each of the following two years. The Liberal fiscal plan currently includes these sick-leave savings.

Treasury Board will also have to find money for any wage settlements negotiated in bargaining. The Conservatives imposed five years of freezes on operating budgets, which meant departments swallowed any wage increases and inflation costs.

Treasury Board typically funds departments to compensate for the extra costs of any wage settlements but that stopped when the freeze was imposed.

When the latest freeze is lifted, Treasury Board will be on the hook for all wage increases starting in 2016-17. Most of the contracts expired in 2014 and any settlements will be retroactive till then.

Unions have typically settled on raises worth at least the cost of living, which was running about 1.2 per cent in 2015. Every one per cent increase in wages would cost about $450 million a year.

The current round of bargaining had barely addressed wage proposals by time they were postponed. The Conservatives tabled an opening proposal that would give employees a 0.5-per-cent-a-year raise for each of the next three years.