Fedeli takes city’s arbitration issues to Queen’s Park

Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli
News Release

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Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli read a Members’ Statement in the Ontario Legislature today based on a recent resolution from the Council of the City of North Bay regarding arbitrarion reform. The following is the prepared text of Fedeli’s statement:


Speaker, communities across Ontario have, for some time, expressed frustration with this government’s unwillingness to make needed changes to the arbitration system for municipal contracts.


Earlier this year, the member for Simcoe-Grey brought forward a Private Members Bill that would have remedied this. However, the government with help from their NDP farm team voted it down, leaving towns and cities across Ontario even more exasperated.


On May 13, the Council of the City of North Bay passed a resolution noting the negative financial impact the provincial arbitration system has on communities. They note arbitration decisions don’t include a municipality’s “ability to pay,” putting further burden on the tax base.



They also note this government in its Throne Speech indicated it would sit down with partners across all sectors to build a sustainable model for wage negotiation.



North Bay Council resolved “all parties to support and consider, at the legislative level, a community’s ability to pay in regards to the arbitration system.



The status quo is no longer affordable, Speaker, and the government can’t keep its head in the sand on this issue any longer.




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