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January 27, 2021
TORONTO – Unifor is reiterating demands that Premier Ford protect frontline workers, as a new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) shows Ontario leading in unallocated pandemic relief funds and lagging in provincial share of COVID-19 spending.
“Ontario has not only failed to provide the per capita funding that other provinces did, but is dragging its heels in spending the funds that it has put aside,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “The deaths in long-term care, overcrowded hospitals, and devastation to workers’ income and benefits have been building for the past ten months. To know now that there is money left on the table, unallocated and unspent, is shameful.”
The report found that Ontario maintains two large unallocated contingency funds worth $4 billion for the Pandemic Fund and $2.02 billion for the Support for People, Jobs and Recovery Fund, higher than any other province.
From immediate needs in long-term care staffing and wages, to recovery spending like transit investments, Unifor has made many suggestions to government on how to best approach worker protection and recovery. Holding back already budgeted funds does not keep people protected nor does it improve our chances of a strong economic recovery.
“Premier Ford can’t expect the federal government to take care of everything. He needs to put the lives of Ontario’s workers ahead of his own short-term savings pat on the back,” said Naureen Rizvi, Unifor Ontario Regional Director. “It’s time to use these emergency funds for what they are designed to do, help protect workers and actually create jobs.”
On Monday, January 25, Rizvi presented Unifor’s Ontario Budget Submission during an online Town Hall and the full text of the union’s submission is available online.
Visit buildbackbetter.unifor.org to read the Union’s full Road Map for a Fair, Inclusive and Resilient Economic Recovery.
Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.
For further information or to arrange a FaceTime, Zoom or Skype interview contact Sarah McCue, Unifor National Communications Representative at 416-458-3307 (cell) or @email.
