Ontario Liberal Leader Del Duca to support bill to regulate temp help agencies if…

Ontario Liberal Leader Del Duca to support bill to regulate temp help agencies if…

Steven Del Duca, Liberal Party Leader, Ontario

By Mila Astorga-Garcia
The Philippine Reporter

Ontario Leader Steven Del Duca says he will support the Ontario government’s recently proposed legislation requiring temporary help agencies (THAs) and recruiters to get a license, to allow better protection of workers from operators who abuse the system, if the legislation delivers the “right” things. (see related story above).

Del Duca was responding to a question as to whether he would support the proposed legislation during a zoom meeting with the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, Monday, Oct. 11, where he was guest speaker.

“If the proposed legislation over the next six or seven months before the election provides the right kind of support, the right kind of compensation and the right kind of penalties to those who break the rules, then it will have my full support and I will do whatever I possibly can as well as my caucus, to get it passed as quickly as possible.,” he said.

While in principle “the general premise is good” in terms of the notion of protecting workers which he said he strongly supports, Del Duca expressed apprehension that the proposed legislation “might not be a genuine effort by the government…I hope I’m wrong,” based on previous positions the Ontario government took on specific issues regarding workers’ welfare.

He explained that decisions the present Ontario government made in the past about workers showed what side it was really on, citing among others, its position on the paid sick leave introduced by the previous Liberal Government, which he said Premiere Doug Ford had cancelled.

Del Duca noted that when it needed to be put back in place because of the difficulties faced by essential workers during the pandemic, it took the present Ontario government more than 400 days to provide paid sick leave to essential workers.

Under the recently proposed legislation, THAs and recruiters would be vetted before they are allowed to operate, by requiring them “an irrevocable letter of credit that could be used to repay owed wages to workers,” an Ontario official media release on the proposal noted.

“Penalties could be issued against unlicensed agencies and recruiters as well as companies who use them, with proactive inspection measures to ensure compliance with applicable requirements. If the legislation is passed, the government intends to require licenses as early as 2024,” the release said.

Del Duca took issue as well with the long timeline of the legislation which he said was way too slow.

“If it does not pass before the election, then yes, you can count on Steven del Duca and the Ontario Liberal government, should we win next spring, to pursue a similar if not even better, more impactful legislation that will do the same thing,” the Opposition leader added.