TORONTO - The Liberal government's plan to give Ontario workers a new holiday next month will cost municipal taxpayers millions of dollars, and Premier Dalton McGuinty admitted Tuesday there are still "wrinkles'' to be ironed out regarding Family Day.
There are also fears the new statutory holiday will mean increased costs to clear roads if it snows on Feb. 18 because towns and cities would have to pay a premium to anyone called in to work due to a storm or other emergency such as a broken water main.
The northern city of Timmins estimates it will cost local taxpayers $60,000 to give its 600 municipal workers the new holiday, a tab the local council would like to see the province pick up.
The City of Toronto expects a nearly $5 million-bill to give municipal and transit workers the day off, but Toronto won't give the holiday to its police and firefighters, who already get 13 paid holidays in their contracts.
Ontario's Employment Standards Act calls for nine paid statutory holidays a year, including Family Day, so many workers are being told they won't qualify for the new holiday -- which falls on the third Monday of February each year -- until it is negotiated in future contracts.
There are concerns that many unionized workers will not get Family Day unless their existing contracts specifically allow for an additional holiday, which CUPE Ontario president Sid Ryan warned Tuesday will lead to labour unrest.
"This will drive strikes,'' Ryan said. "This will drive bad blood at bargaining tables all across the province for years to come. When a public holiday is granted to one group of workers, the rest who don't have it are going to fight to get it.''
Some unionized workers are being asked to give up an existing floating holiday in order to take Family Day, a move Ryan said CUPE and other unions will fight hard to block.
"Everyone was under the impression that this was going to be an additional public holiday,'' Ryan said. "At no time did McGuinty ever indicate when he was out there looking for votes that if you've already got the minimum (nine holidays) that this doesn't apply to you.''
McGuinty wouldn't address the issue of having the province pick up some of the municipalities' costs of Family Day, and insisted his promise to introduce the new holiday was approved by Ontario voters last fall.
"I'm convinced if I was to ask business and public organizations when is the best time for us to bring this in, they would say never,'' McGuinty said after touring an aerospace company in Kitchener, Ont.
"We had a bit of a consultation on this issue during the course of the past provincial election, and Ontarians spoke very clearly.''
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario said the new holiday will add to the financial problems already faced by local governments across the province.
"Municipalities in general continue to be challenged and frustrated with the fiscal situation in which they find themselves,'' AMO president Doug Reycraft said.
Reycraft is a councillor in Middlesex County, near London, which voted not to give its workers Family Day this year because they already get 11 paid holidays.
"We anticipate they will likely attempt to bargain for it through the collective bargaining process,'' he said.
Others who won't qualify for Family Day include federal employees and workers in federally regulated areas such as airlines, banks and radio and television stations, although CBC employees in Ontario have been told they will be paid for Family Day.
There are also concerns that the speed with which Family Day was declared a holiday -- it was announced by McGuinty the morning after the Liberals' re-election Oct. 10 -- left little time to adjust such things as court schedules.
McGuinty said he isn't worried about people who have been issued traffic tickets telling them to appear in court Feb. 18 -- when the courts will be closed -- and he dismissed opposition claims that those charged with traffic offences could be off the hook if their original court dates are not rescheduled.
"We're going to have to find a way to iron out some of the wrinkles that develop as we bring in place the very first Family Day,'' McGuinty said. "Undoubtedly there were wrinkles of this nature when they first put in place the original eight statutory holidays.''
