Ontario on the hook for $6B and counting in Bill 124 compensation

Ontario is so far on the hook for more than $6 billion in payments to broader public sector workers as a result of the provincial government's wage restraint legislation being found unconstitutional.

Ontario is so far on the hook for more than $6 billion in payments to broader public sector workers as a result of the provincial government's wage restraint legislation being found unconstitutional.

Bill 124 capped salary increases for broader public sector workers at one per cent a year for three years, but after the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled it unconstitutional the government repealed it.

Since a lower court first found the law unconstitutional in 2022, unions with so-called reopener clauses in their contracts have been seeking retroactive pay increases above the one per cent a year and in most cases have been awarded considerably larger amounts.

Senior government officials not authorized to speak publicly about the costs confirm to The Canadian Press that those awards so far add up to $6,000,800,000.

The province's financial accountability officer highlighted in a report earlier this month that compensation - largely in the health and education sectors - for the law known as Bill 124 caused the government to spend billions more than it planned this year.

The confirmation of the cost of the reopener payments so far comes as Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is set to introduce next year's budget in less than two weeks.

In the minister's last fiscal update ahead of the budget, the release of the third quarter finances last month, he projected that Ontario would end this year with a $4.5 billion deficit, which is larger than the $1.3 billion he forecasted in last year's spring budget.