Much has been written about the impact of the rise of the dollar on Canada’s manufacturing heartland in Ontario. However, jobs that may be the most globally mobile – software development and high tech – are equally at risk because their labour costs have also risen. Canadian companies that have traditionally sold their goods priced in US dollars are doubly impacted – lower revenues getting recognized and higher costs.
And the response of the Ontario government? In its zeal to win votes in the last election, Ontario added an across the board 0.5% increase in labour costs to all employers.
How? By giving workers an extra statutory holiday in February. An extra paid day off. Yippie, if you are an employee. Not quite as gleeful if you are the employer.
In proclaiming the day, the premier said:
There is nothing more valuable to families than time together. And yet it seems tougher than ever to find, with so many of us living such busy lives. …
I can think of no better way for our government to get to work than by rewarding Ontarians for all their hard work, and for their belief that when we work together, build together and dream together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.
The premier boasts to some that Ontario’s economy added 165,000 jobs in the past year. Derek DeCloet’s recent column in the Globe complains that more than half of these were in the public sector.
The smart way to spend money is to ensure the entire budget gets aligned with an innovation strategy. The Ontario Corporate Chief Technology Officer is hosting a Town Hall on Monday. Among other topics will be an examination of Government 2.0: How new technologies can transform and enhance Government. I hope to have a report on the session early next week.
If governments don’t spend strategically, we might find that employers use the new holiday in February to find ways to relocate jobs (without the families) to more cost competitive jurisdictions.
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