Misplaced priorities

If the premier has her way, there may be a new line of deductions under CPP on your paycheques in a few years’ time.

That’s because Kathleen Wynne is pushing for the implementation of the Ontario Pension Plan, which would see workers’ wages have a 1.9 per cent deduction, which in turn would be matched by their employer.

The result? The equivalent (adjusted for inflation) of 15 per cent of that person’s average earnings to last them into their post-working years, and another direct hit to the company that employs them. Has Wynne bothered to look around at the depleted commercial and manufacturing base in her province? Does she realize so many companies are currently on the brink and that these extra costs of higher minimum wages and pension plans can cripple the corporations that remain, or equally disturbing, push them to join the exodus of companies that have already left the country in search of greener pastures?

So, the polls ask the employees, not the employers. And these people in the province are blindly split down the middle when it comes to seeing this as a good idea or not.

According to a Forum Research poll released this week, 44 per cent approved of the idea while 40 per cent were against it. With a margin of error of three per cent, you may as well call this an even split.

However, with all the debate going on about whether or not this pension is a good idea, the real issue may be missed: employment.

Oshawa MPP Jennifer French was absolutely right when she told The Oshawa Express that more effort should be placed in making sure Ontario residents have jobs.

Typical to form, recall the gas plant scandal and the cost of the cancelled contracts, Wynne attempted to go forward with the plan without releasing the full details – some details of who would and wouldn’t be covered were just released last week, months after it was first announced – so it was hardly a surprise when the feds declined to support it.

This means that barring Stephen Harper getting reelected – both the Liberal and NDP have said they would expand the CPP, thus covering the ground the provincial plan would be making up for – the plan’s implementation is going to cost Ontario residents a lot of money.

Instead of mothering us, the province needs to delve into our economic problems and come up with solutions for a better way of life for all. And that means looking after the corporations that feed us.