Less than a quarter of employees working part-time or in precarious jobs have the benefits of extended health, vision and dental care, said Ontario Labour Minister Monte McNaughton.
At Queen’s Park today, McNaughton announced the government is studying ways to create a “portable benefits” plan, which will also be effective if workers change jobs.
He says such a plan would tie “health and dental insurance to workers, not their employers.”
McNaughton said the plan would benefit those least likely to have workplace benefits, such as women, low-wage earners, newcomers and young people.
“Whether you’re busing tables, working the cash, or giving rides, we are making sure necessities like dental care and affordable medication is within reach for more families,” he said.
Donna Lero, a former University of Guelph professor understands why the province would focus on those types of workers.
“There’s recognition [of] those who are least likely to have good benefits,” says Lero. “So having a program that provides medical benefits, vision care, dental care to all is certainly a very laudable goal.”
Others say today’s announcement was short on details.
“We really don’t know much more about that,” John Shields, a politics professor at Ryerson University said, “I mean, we know that this is not something that’s going to be brought forward in terms of legislation before the election, which I think is quite critical.”
Steven Del Duca, Ontario’s Liberal party accused the government of flip-flopping on the issue of worker’s benefits.
“Why would anyone trust them to fix the cuts they made at the beginning of their term after the next election?” he tweeted.
He says he proposed a plan to address issues of parental leave, insurance and health and dental support back in 2019.