NDP draws businesses’ ire with vow to require at least 3 weeks vacation
Firms claim they feel pinch from existing policies
TORONTO • In the Ontario election’s ongoing war of voter inducements, the NDP added another sweetener Tuesday, unveiling its promise to require at least three weeks of vacation for all fulltime employees.
The policy would make Ontario just the second province to oblige businesses to provide more than two weeks off for employees after one year.
New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath — who polls suggest is at least tied for the lead heading into next Thursday’s vote — called it a recipe for “balanced life.”
The business community responded with a heavy sigh, as the prospect of a labouroriented NDP government comes closer to reality.
Giving workers more time off is a laudable goal, employer groups say, but an extra week of mandatory holiday could be the final straw after a string of labour costs imposed by the current Liberal government — coupled with billions in business taxes and other new expenses pledged by the NDP.
Already in place are a 21 per cent hike in the minimum wage, more vacation time and new emergency days off.
“It is just one more way that employers in this province will find themselves in a precarious situation,” said Karl Baldauf, an Ontario Chamber of Commerce vice president. “I would really begin to question what we are going to be doing to the health of Ontario’s economy, and economic prosperity more generally.”
The vacation pledge was included in the platform document the NDP released last month, but has drawn little attention until now. It is in some ways typical of an election campaign in which parties have competed to offer an array of people-friendly benefits, including lavish new spending programs, tax cuts or both.
The Liberal government introduced legislation last year that put Ontario in line with most other provinces by mandating three weeks paid holiday after five years of service. Only Saskatchewan requires three weeks after just a year, according to an Ontario government report released last spring.
“We hear too many stories of families who are not having enough time to have a balanced life,” said Horwath Tuesday. “With three weeks vacation after a year, families are going to have more time to spend together.”
Mandating the extra week after only a year is particularly important in today’s less predictable labour market, where many people never work five years for one employer, argued Chris Buckley, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour.
And it benefits both workers and their bosses, he said.
“Having time away from work and quality time with loved ones is really, really important to one’s health,” said Buckley. “(And) a healthy worker is a productive worker.”
In and of itself, the change might not have a huge impact on employers, said Julie Kwiecinski, Ontario director of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
But it comes in the wake of the Liberals’ Bill 148 last year, which increased the minimum wage from $11.60 to $14 on Jan. 1; requires a further jump to $15 next January; mandated more vacation after five years; and gave workers a right to two emergency leave days, she noted.
“You have your smallbusiness well that is basically being tapped dry. It’s a promise that someone else pays for,” said Kwiecinski. “All these things keep adding up. What will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back?”
Meanwhile, the NDP platform would impose other new burdens on the business community, as well, argues Baldauf.
He notes that a slate of tax increases would take more than $2 billion a year on average from companies. And a promised dental-care program would require businesses that don’t have dental plans to set them up, an estimated $900-million yearly cost.
IT’S A PROMISE THAT SOMEONE ELSE PAYS FOR.