Electrical Business

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Are Ontario’s Liberals saying your training investment doesn’t matter?

November 28, 2016 | By Anthony Capkun



November 28, 2016 – “The Ontario Liberal government has introduced legislation which could have a detrimental impact on the enforcement capability of the Ontario College of Trades,” says ECAO, “and hamper its ability to protect the public interest and the integrity of the electrical trade.”

According to Electrical Contractors Association of Ontario, amendments to legislation governing OCoT have been included as part of a larger Omnibus bill that could “effectively dilute the enforcement powers of the college and diminish the value of having a Certificate of Qualification (CofQ) in a compulsory trade”.

ECAO explains Bill 70 proposes to make the Ontario Labour Relations Board an appellant mechanism for enforcement action carried out under the Ontario College of Trades and Apprenticeship Act, 2009, which would effectively make OCoT the only regulator in the country subject to having its decisions overturned by an administrative tribunal.

“The OLRB has historically existed to administer the Labour Relations Act and could now find itself having to consider to separate and contradictory legislation while setting aside decades of precedent and jurisprudence,” adds ECAO.

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“The end result is that this government could potentially be creating an unsafe workplace, and telling skilled trades professionals and apprentices that their investment in training doesn’t matter.”

ECAO urges its members to contact their MPPs to call on the Liberals to have Section 17 removed from Bill 70 and sent to committee “to allow proper debate and public scrutiny of the impact of these amendments”.


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