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QUEEN’S PARK – Yesterday in the Ontario Legislature, Ernie Hardeman, MPP for Oxford, challenged the McGuinty government to reopen debate on Bill 119 which, if passed, will burden small construction companies with significant additional costs. “This tax is the last thing small business owners need in this time of economic uncertainty,” said Hardeman. “I have received numerous e-mails and phone calls from small business people who are concerned this extra cost will force them out of business.” Under Bill 119, The Workplace Safety and Insurance Amendment Act, 2008, small construction will be required to pay for worker’s compensation coverage for the owners and executive officers of the company. Many of the businesses that will be affected by this legislation already have private coverage, but, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), will now also be required to pay an average of $11,000 more to the Worker’s Safety Insurance Board (WSIB) under the McGuinty government’s new plan. Hardeman stood up in the legislature and requested unanimous consent to continue the 2nd Reading debate on the bill that had been shut down, but it was promptly refused. Later in the day the McGuinty government introduced a motion that severely limits further debate and restricts public hearings to only five and a half hours in Toronto. “Springing this terrible announcement on hard-working small business people during Small Business Month, at a time when the economic outlook is shaky, is incredibly insensitive,” said Judith Andrew, Vice-President of CFIB to the McGuinty government. “We believe that your motivation, on behalf of your government, has far more to do with political opportunism than it does with the policy at hand.” Critics also say that Bill 119 will simply punish law-abiding business owners and will do nothing to suppress underground operations that will continue to operate even if the bill is passed. “Everyday we are hearing troubling announcements – manufacturing plants closing, people losing jobs, and Ontario becoming a have-not province,” said Hardeman. “This is the time to take concrete steps to support our small businesses, not add additional costs and paperwork.”
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