Pay for Ontario board chairs all over the map

JONATHAN JENKINS | QMI AGENCY

TORONTO -- To say Philip Olsson comes cheap to Ontario taxpayers is bit of an understatement.

The chair of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario pulled down $17,850 in 2011, while sitting atop an agency with 3,500 employees, $4.5 billion in sales and that delivered a $1.55 billion profit to taxpayers -- up nearly 10% from the previous year.

Or how about Neil Stuart? The health admin PhD, who chairs Cancer Care Ontario and its nearly $700 million budget, reported a mere $112 in expense claims for 2010 -- his only pay in the job.

It's a far cry from the Ontario's best paid board chair, the recently re-appointed Howard Wetston at the Ontario Securities Commission. His total pay was more than $630,000 in 2011.

That's nowhere near the $102,000 the part-time chair of the Ontario Film Review Board made in 2011 but it's still five times what Olsson was paid to run a significantly larger operation.

The staggering range of compensation for board chairs across Ontario's 630 agencies, boards and commissions (ABCs) is every bit as bewildering as the bodies themselves, which advise, regulate, adjudicate or administer everything from accessibility standards to the McMichael Art Gallery to workplace insurance appeals.

The list includes predictable bodies such as hospital boards, university boards of governors, local health integration networks and the boards of such powerful and high-profile bodies as Hydro One Inc., Ontario Power Generation, the Ontario Energy Board, eHealth Ontario and the Ontario Parole Board.

But it also includes such obscure entities as the Ortech Corp. -- which works to move research and development from the lab to the marketplace -- the Board of Funeral Services and also the Soldiers Aid Commission, established in 1915.

Given the vast disparity of services provided and the work involved, it's not surprising the pay board chairs receive also varies widely.

But even people involved in the appointment process say it's baffling -- and open to abuse.

"It looks like there's a lot of room for playing games there," said New Democrat MPP Peter Tabuns, who sits on Queen's Park's government agency committee. "It needs to be transparent, it needs to be consistent. The public needs to know what the rules are.

"When you see someone who is making in the hundreds of thousands as the chair of a board or someone alternatively who is making $10,000 or $15,000 as the chair of a board, what does that mean?

"There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason. You always know that when you don't have clarity there, there's potential for game-playing."

Tabuns said the committee has no input into pay and just vets potential appointees, but is interested in taking a closer look at how ABCs tick.

"This summer we will be holding hearings on WSIB (Workplace Safety and Insurance Board), LCBO and I think the Metro Convention Centre. There will be three agencies that will be called in for examination of how they're operating," he said.

"You've made us all aware of this huge range and I think it makes sense that we go back to these agencies and say, 'Look, we need to look at why there's this huge range. How do you justify that?' How do we know it's fair, how do we know it's reasonable?"

Ontario's Public Sector Appointments Secretariat says it hands out about 3,800 positions. A few are held down by Ontario Public Service employees but most come from outside. Some, like Cancer Care's Stuart, are paid just for their expenses but most a per diem ranging from $100 to $1,000.

Government Services Minister Harinder Takhar said cabinet and Treasury Board set pay rates for ABCs for which government appoints a majority of board members, while the ABCs themselves set pay rates for those with a minority of provincial appointees.

Typically, Takhar said the larger, higher-profile agencies often require people with highly specialized skills commanding higher pay.

"Sometimes it's hard to get doctors, to get lawyers with that kind of professional experience," he said.

Occasionally, though, Takhar said the opposite is true -- big boards usually have a very strong set of experienced professional managers to rely on, where smaller agencies may well require a more "hands-on" chair capable of a wider range of skills.

It's these kinds of confusing discrepancies that demand the entire roster of ABCs be reviewed, Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman said.

"This is what we were talking about at election time and we've been talking ever since," added Shurman, his party's finance critic.

"You can't make any sense of the agencies, boards and commissions that exist under the Ontario government. I defy anybody to make any sense of the situation. That's why it's absolutely essential to conduct a review and not a haphazard review.

"I'm talking about a full formal review by an independent panel, that says, 'Here's something that works -- let's keep it. Here's where it needs fixing, we'll fix it. Here's something that exists that nobody needs, we're getting rid of it.'"

With compensation "all over the map," Shurman said there's simply no way for MPPs -- let alone the public -- to determine who is doing a good job as a chair.

"You need to do a review and until you do that, it's impossible to say except on a one-off basis to say, 'This guy is good, that guy's bad and the third lady's indifferent'," Shurman said

Liberals' budget bill causing friction
By Christina Blizzard ,QMI Agency

TORONTO - There’s an old saying about when you lie down with dogs, sometimes you get up with fleas.

Okay, I am not, repeat NOT, calling politicians dogs.

My point is that having played Let’s Make a Deal with the Liberals on the budget vote, it should come as no surprise to the NDP that the fall-out would stick around like an itch that won’t go away.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan and government House leader John Milloy complained Wednesday the NDP are balking at their plan to ram the budget through the Legislature in the next two weeks.

I don’t know why they’re surprised. NDP support was tepid at best. They didn’t vote in favour of the motion, they abstained from voting — allowing it to pass through the fragile minority Parliament.

“The agreement was on the budget and now we just want to call it to a vote,” Duncan told reporters.

Without an agreement he added, there’ll be an election.

Oh, good. Just what we want before the summer.

“We changed the budget, we changed the fiscal plan to accommodate,” Duncan complained.

The government now wants to invoke closure on the controversial bill — so they can shut down the House, thus avoiding any more pesky questions about the Ornge air ambulance scandal.

No Opposition party wants to be seen to be aiding and abetting the government in shuttering Parliament.

The NDP argue that the massive budget bill is a bit like its federal counterpart.

It’s complex and far-reaching, going far beyond the nuts and bolts of fiscal policy you usually see in such a bill.

It requires changes to 69 Acts — and New Democrats argue they need time to study them.

NDP House leader Gilles Bisson said the NDP won’t force an election over this — but the government needs to find a way to get along with the other two parties.

“The problem in this place has been that governments over the years have used time allocation to the point that people don’t know how to work together anymore,” Bisson told reporters.

He said the two tax measures the NDP negotiated into the budget — the cancellation of the corporate tax cuts and the tax-the-rich plan can all be pushed through quickly, but other measures need more scrutiny.

So who’ll play footsie with the Liberals now?

Will the Tories offer their support — in exchange for the public sector pay freeze they’ve been demanding?

You’d think that would be a no-brainer for Duncan.

He gets to save millions in public sector salaries — while blaming it on the Tories.

“They made me do it in return for their support on the budget,” he could tell those powerful unions.

One recurring theme you hear from both opposition parties is that the Liberals just don’t understand the need to get along in a minority Parliament. They’re “bullies,” says PC finance critic Peter Shurman.

“The Liberals spent eight years with a significant majority and did whatever they pleased, and now they can’t do whatever they please and they’re acting like whiners,” he told reporters.

The Liberals seem determined to govern as if they have a majority — when they don’t.

New Democrats suddenly realize their reluctant support of the budget bill came with more strings attached than they first thought.

Tories are no doubt congratulating themselves for not backing themselves into the same corner.

If the Liberals don’t tone down their arrogance, we’ll end up with an unwanted election sooner rather than later.

Couples therapy? Newlywed Liberals and NDP fighting over stalled budget bill
By: Maria Babbage, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - The honeymoon is officially over.

The so-called "happy marriage" of convenience between Ontario's minority Liberals and the New Democrats over the budget hit another rough patch Wednesday, with the Liberals accusing the NDP of breaking their wedding vows.

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan accused the NDP and the Progressive Conservatives of "using every stall tactic in the book" to block the budget, jeopardizing both Ontario's credit rating and a plan to slay the province's $15-billion deficit.

The NDP helped the Liberals survive a crucial budget vote a month ago after brokering a deal that included several of their demands, including hiking taxes on the wealthy.

The New Democrats say they only agreed to let the budget clear its first hurdle, by abstaining from a vote on the budget motion. But Duncan insists the NDP also agreed to allow the entire 357-page budget bill to pass.

"When is a deal not a deal?" Duncan asked. "I watch the media and I was privy to those discussions. That's what we agreed to."

The government made a billion dollars' worth of changes to garner the NDP's support "and what they're doing now is simply playing games," Duncan added.

The delay tactics include forcing 30-minute division bells to ring as often as possible, which has been holding up the budget debate for more than a month, he said.

But it's the Progressive Conservatives who are ringing the bells to protest the government's refusal to strike a special committee on Ornge, the province's troubled air ambulance service that's currently under a criminal probe.

With just eight sitting days left until the legislature rises, the government is prepared to extend debates until midnight and even over the summer to move the budget forward, Duncan said.

But New Democrats say they're not holding anything up and have made it clear to the government that they'll fast-track measures that they wanted in the budget.

"We negotiated with the government and our agreement was very clear," said NDP house leader Gilles Bisson. "We're not trying to squeeze them."

But there are elements in the huge budget bill that require public scrutiny, such as selling off government services like ServiceOntario that could lead to more Ornge-type scandals down the road, he said.

Bisson said his party won't support any motions to limit debate of the budget bill, but they are prepared to sit in the summer.

"I think there is a deal to be had there and it's not going to be excessive to the government," he said. "We're not going to get everything we want, they're not going to get everything they want, but we should be able get to this by the end of June."

The Liberals are acting like bullies, said Progressive Conservative finance critic Peter Shurman.

"The Liberals spent eight years with a significant majority and did whatever they pleased, and now they can't do whatever they please and they're acting like whiners," he said.

"I think the population of Ontario are sick and tired of hearing this constant whining about what we or the NDP are doing. I think it's time they looked into the mirror and decided that they have to change tactics."

Duncan warned that if the budget doesn't pass before the legislature breaks for the summer, key measures won't be implemented in time, including a corporate tax cut that's supposed to kick in July 1 and the NDP's surtax on the rich.

"The longer into this fiscal year you go, the more challenging implementation becomes," he said.

Duncan also raised the spectre of a possible downgrade by a second credit rating agency if the March budget is defeated and the province is plunged into another election.

"They want the parties of this minority legislature to work together, put in place a strong plan to balance the budget and hit the fiscal targets that we have laid out," he said.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded the province's debt rating on April 26, citing Ontario's growing debt burden and the need to stay on track to eliminate the deficit in 2017.

A few days before Moody's dropped its bombshell, Standard and Poor's also revised its outlook on the province's debt rating from "stable" to "negative."

Talk again of a provincial election as Liberals struggle to get budget bill passed
Charlene Close, Rogers Communications

Just when you thought your summer would be free of any election talk.

Ontario finance minister Dwight Duncan has warned the opposition could trigger an election if it doesn't stop stalling the minority government's budget bill in the legislature.

The Conservatives have been delaying passage of the budget bill and finance minister Dwight Duncan is pleading with the NDP to help bring that to an end.

"If it's defeated, then we have an election. So we do need to get a pass," Duncan said.

But NDP house leader Gilles Bisson says don't blame his party for what's going on.

"This is a 350-page bill, 69 acts being changed, I think the public and the democracy has a right to come before the committee and tell us what they have to say," Bisson said.

Duncan said key NDP demands like a tax on the rich and stopping a planned corporate tax cut won't be implemented in time if things continue as is.

Conservative finance critic Peter Shurman said the bottom line is that the Liberals have a minority government and have to learn to play well with others.

"The finance minister and the premier are going to have to realize that they're not royalty. The premier is the premier, he's not the king," Shurman said.

With only eight days left in the session until the summer break, Duncan said the government is prepared to sit until midnight and over the summer to get the budget passed.

Scott Stinson: McGuinty’s health cuts give Ontario PCs a chance to gloat
Scott Stinson, National Post, Postmedia Network Inc.

One can forgive Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives a moment’s gloating.

As the province’s doctors reacted with shock and indignity on Tuesday to the Liberal move to unilaterally slash fees for a host of procedures, and as Premier Dalton McGuinty steeled himself against the blowback that is coming from his long-time allies in the health and education sectors, it is the PCs who are saying, not unfairly: We told you so.

“Six months ago, we were the realists saying, ‘You’re going to have to deal with the unions,’” PC finance critic Peter Shurman said on Tuesday after Mr. McGuinty addressed a downtown Toronto business audience. “We were the ones calling for a province-wide public-sector wage freeze in November,” Mr. Shurman added. “Now, it seems, [the Premier] is coming ever closer to that.”

Mr. McGuinty is not all the way there yet. The Premier insisted on Tuesday that the fee changes announced Monday by Health Minister Deb Matthews were a key part of a plan to restrain spending growth and eliminate the deficit within five years.

“We got a pretty strong mandate from the people of Ontario,” he said, and went on to say that he believes front-line workers such as teachers know the fiscal trouble facing the province.

“I think that when they talk to each other while out grocery shopping, or going to church, or taking their kids to hockey and soccer games … they understand how were are connected to what is happening in Europe and how we are connected to what is happening in the United States,” Mr. McGuinty said. They know that economic recovery requires sacrifices from everyone, the Premier said.

Asked if he was telling other unions that, like the doctors, they will face imposed changes if they don’t come to an agreement with negotiators, Mr. McGuinty demurred somewhat.

“I’m trying to let all our public-sector partners know that there is no new money in the budget we passed for increased salaries,” he said. Workers may have received generous increases in the past, but those deals were signed at a different time — if not by a different government.

“We have to make sure … our compensation agreements are reflective of the times,” the Premier said.

But there was another message in the fee changes brought down on Monday: that workers who may not like the idea of a two-year wage freeze will like the details of an imposed deal even less. Doctors have begun to outline a host of concerns they have with the changes Ms. Matthews has announced; there seems little appetite at all from the government side in changing them.

“It’s not a question of playing nice with the unions,” Mr. Shurman said yesterday. “[Mr. McGuinty] has done that for eight years.”

The Thornhill MPP also expressed some doubt, though, that the Liberals will follow through with plans to hold the line on union wages contract by contract, and he pointed to PC leader Tim Hudak’s bill that would legislate a wage freeze on the public sector as a quicker way of ensuring it gets done.

Talking to a group of business leaders, Mr. Shurman said, the Premier “wants to be a tough guy.”

“We’ve been saying this for months and months and months.”

Six weeks after the March budget, the Liberals are still saying it, too.

‘Happy marriage’ between Liberals, NDP kaput as McGuinty tries to woo Tories
Maria Babbage, The Canadian Press

TORONTO — The so-called “happy marriage” between the minority Liberals and the New Democrats didn’t even last as long as Kim Kardashian’s ill-fated union to Kris Humphries.

The NDP, that helped the Liberals survive a crucial budget vote just two weeks ago, is being tossed aside for Premier Dalton McGuinty’s latest seduction target: the Progressive Conservatives.

McGuinty reached out to his rivals on Tuesday, saying his cash-strapped government needs their help to impose a wage freeze on broader public sector workers — a move the NDP opposes — if all other options at the bargaining table fail to produce one.

“I’m hopeful it doesn’t come to legislated measures in order for us to deal with wage freezes,” said McGuinty, who is battling a $15-billion deficit.

“But if it does come to that, I’m hoping we can count on (Progressive Conservative Leader Tim) Hudak and his party because I believe we have some common ground there.”

The Tories have long called for an immediate pay freeze for all publicly paid workers, such as nurses and teachers, saying it will save the province $2 billion a year.

On Monday, Hudak announced plans to introduce legislation that would force a wage freeze right away.

So far, the Tories have played hard to get with the Liberals on the budget, announcing they’d vote against it the day it was tabled because it didn’t do enough to stop the province from spiralling further into debt.

McGuinty said that forced him to work with the NDP instead and capitulate to their demand to hike taxes for the wealthy.

But the premier’s the one who turned his back on the Tories when he refused to consider any of their suggestions for the March budget, said PC finance critic Peter Shurman.

If McGuinty is sincere about freezing wages, he should support Hudak’s wage-freeze legislation, Shurman said.

“I think that if they’re serious about wanting to legislate a wage freeze in the broader public sector, then they have to demonstrate so by getting together with us and engaging in reasonable debate,” he said.

“Collaboration is not a one-way thing.”

Jilted NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she’s not heartbroken that her party’s brief affair with the Liberals appears to be over.

“It’s interesting,” she said. “It’s hard to get a sense of where the premier is at on this issue. It used to be that he very clearly said legislated submissions don’t work and that’s not the way to do things. And now all of a sudden that’s exactly what he’s reaching for.”

The Liberals have warned for years that they cannot afford any more pay increases in order to balance the books in 2017. But they’re now threatening to legislate a wage freeze and back-to-work legislation if that’s what it takes.

But the threat is not actually in the budget bill, which will come up for a vote in the legislature.

McGuinty’s pitch to the Tories came a day after his government cut several hundred fees that are paid to doctors, which it said would save $338 million this year.

The unilateral move was the latest salvo in its battle with the Ontario Medical Association over a new labour agreement. The government is refusing to provide more money to the doctors, who say it’s unfair that they’ll end up absorbing the rising costs of health care in the province.

Dalton McGuinty reaches out to Tim Hudak for support on public sector wage freeze
Rob Ferguson Queen's Park Bureau, Torstar Corp.

Fresh from a tax-the-rich deal with the NDP, Premier Dalton McGuinty is now reaching out to the Progressive Conservatives for support in imposing a public sector wage freeze.

“It may very well be I need their support,” McGuinty said Tuesday. “I am hoping the party on the right will be there for that.”

He also defended the “strong medicine” his cash-strapped minority government is dishing out to doctors as the province fights a $15 billion deficit.

Fee cuts were imposed on doctors during negotiations with the Ontario Medical Association for a new contract, but McGuinty denied the move was intended to intimidate unions for teachers and other public sector workers.

The comments came a day after Conservative Leader Tim Hudak announced plans to introduce a bill calling for an immediate freeze on teachers, nurses, civil servants and other public sector workers to save $2 billion a year.

McGuinty said his own preference is still to “try as hard as we can” to negotiate pay freezes before resorting to legislation.

“Should it come to that, we will not shirk from that responsibility,” added the premier, who has promised to balance the budget by 2017 and avoid further credit downgrades by bond-rating agencies.

Tory finance critic Peter Shurman said the Liberal government should get serious about a freeze by supporting Hudak’s bill.

“It’s not a question of sitting down and playing nicely with the unions, he’s tried that. In fact, he’s been a little bit too nice for all of those years,” the Thornhill MPP told reporters after McGuinty addressed the Ontario Economic Summit.

McGuinty reluctantly agreed to an additional tax bracket on personal incomes over $500,000 to get support from NDP Leader Andrea Horwath for his March 27 budget.

He blamed the Conservatives for not bargaining with him on the budget, which meant “I was forced to negotiate with a party to my left.”

The premier said he’s glad to have “common ground” with Conservatives on the wage freeze, although Shurman wouldn’t commit his party to supporting Liberal wage freeze legislation.

“We cross every bridge when we get to it.”

Horwath accused McGuinty of flip-flopping on previous statements that legislated wage freezes don’t work.

“The desire to hold onto power is what makes people do strange things.”

She wouldn’t say if the NDP would work to defeat the government’s budget and force an election if McGuinty tries to pass wage freeze legislation.

“We take the legislation one piece at a time.”

McGuinty looking for support on a public sector pay freeze
By Jonathan Jenkins ,Queen's Park Bureau, QMI Agency

TORONTO - Premier Dalton McGuinty is on the prowl for a new political partner to help him keep a lid on public sector compensation.

After working out an agreement with NDP Leader Andrea Horwath to get the Liberal budget passed, McGuinty said he’s now looking to PC Leader Tim Hudak to back up any move to legislate pay freezes.

“First of all, I’m hopeful it doesn’t come to legislated measures in order for us to deal with wage freezes, but secondly, should it come to that, I think it’s important that the public sector, our public sector partners know that we will not shrink from that responsibility,” McGuinty said Tuesday. “If it does come to that... I’m hoping we can count on Mr. Hudak and his party because I believe we have some common ground there.”

The minority McGuinty government moved on its own this week to lower OHIP fees for doctors, and is now staring down unhappy teacher unions.

His government has not budgeted for compensation increases for either group of public servants.

If the Liberals opt to resolve outstanding bargaining issues with legislation, they will need support from one of the two opposition parties.

Tory MPP Peter Shurman said his party supports a legislated pay freeze on all public sector wages, but will consider any proposal from McGuinty.

“If they’re serious about wanting to legislate a wage freeze in the broader public sector, then they have to demonstrate by getting together with us and engaging in reasonable debate,” Shurman said.

McGuinty has been so “nice” that the average broader public sector worker now makes about 27% more than an equivalent employee in the private sector — an unsustainable situation that’s helping propel the province toward a $411 billion debt by 2017-18, Shurman said.

Horwath, whose budget negotiations with McGuinty led to a new tax on the rich and increased spending in some areas, said she does not believe in a legislated solution to disputes in collective bargaining.

McGuinty 'Political Animal' and 'Lousy Premier': Shurman
By: Katie Franzios, Astral Media


With rumours swirling around Queen's Park that other opposition MPPs are being approached by the governing minority Liberals, one Progressive Conservative says it doesn't surprise him.

PC Finance Critic MPP Peter Shurman says Premier Dalton McGuinty will stop at nothing to get a majority government, calling him a "political animal" and a "lousy premier".

Last week, Tory Elizabeth Witmer resigned after 22 years as an MPP in Kitchener-Waterloo to take over as chair of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). After the October election, the McGuinty Liberals received a minority government by only one seat so the move may off-set the balance of power at Queen's Park.

Shurman says he hasn't been approached by the Liberals and underlines he's proud to be a member of PC leader Tim Hudak's caucus. He says he wouldn't consider leaving the Tories.

“The Tories seem more concerned with pointing fingers and starting rumours than getting down to business and doing the hard work that needs to be done to keep Ontario on track." Liberal MPP David Orazetti said in a written statement. "We’re working hard and we’re focused on creating jobs, eliminating the deficit, and protecting health care and education.”

No date for a by-election to replace Witmer has been set.

Ontario slapped with single credit downgrade
By: Robert Benzie, Torstar Corp

TORONTO — Ontario has been walloped with a credit downgrade from one major debt-rating agency, but given a vote of confidence from another.

Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday downgraded Ontario’s rating on its $202-billion debt to AA2 from AA1.

Hours earlier, DBRS had announced it was keeping the province at AA and retaining a “stable” outlook thanks to the government’s pledge to curb spending increases.

But it was the Moody’s news that had some singing the blues.

“The downgrade of Ontario’s rating reflects the growing debt burden and the risks surrounding the province achieving its medium-term fiscal plan given the subdued growth outlook, extended timeframe back to balance and ambitious expenditure targets,” Jennifer Wong, a Moody’s assistant vice-president, said in a release.

The agency pointed out that there are “significant risks surrounding the province’s ability to achieve their medium-term fiscal targets and stabilize and then reverse the recent accumulation in debt.”

“This is catastrophic for the province of Ontario,” said Progressive Conservative finance critic Peter Shurman, predicting the downgrade would eventually result in a hike to Queen’s Park’s interest costs.

Not so, said Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.

“We got downgraded by one and affirmed by two, so two out of three that’s better than Ted Williams,” said Duncan, whose baseball analogy referred to Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday dropping the province’s outlook to “negative” from “stable” while not downgrading Ontario.

S&P’s change reflected concern about “the minority legislature’s ability to meet what we view as challenging cost containment targets in the next one to two years.”

Indeed, Moody’s said much the same thing, warning Ontario’s “expense growth targets appear particularly ambitious” given it has averaged seven per cent increases for the past five years yet plans to curb spending hikes to 1.9 per cent in the next two years and 1.1 per cent for the two years after that.

Duncan did not deny the three debt-raters’ moves were sobering.

“This action reminds us that it’s important that we continue to meet our targets or we risk paying more money to bondholders instead of for schools and health care,” he said, adding it underscores the need for the government’s wage freeze on one million workers on the public payroll.

“It reminds our bargaining agents and bargaining partners – our teachers, doctors, and other public servants – that there’s no new funding for wage increases and we must all work together to meet our targets,” the treasurer said.

The ratings agencies’ reports came the same week the minority Liberals amended their budget with a new income-tax bracket for people making more than $500,000 to appease the New Democrats, ensuring passage of the spending plan.

That new tax revenue has reduced the government’s deficit projection this year to $14.8 billion from the $15.2 billion projected on March 27.

Shurman, whose party voted against the budget, stressed the province will continue to bleed red ink until at least 2017-18, swelling the debt above $300 billion.

“We warned the government urgent action was required. Today’s downgrade of Ontario’s credit rating by Moody’s confirmed our fears.”