As the Ontario government continues to forge ahead with its plans for the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) by announcing new details and features this week, the province’s opposition parties are weighing in on the issue.
The Ontario NDPs believe there are still more questions to be answered about the eligibility of contract workers. The party’s pension critic and MPP for Oshawa, Jennifer French, said in a statement: “We are concerned that the Premier’s plan could exclude seasonal workers, contract workers, and far too many precariously employed Ontarians who though vulnerable, may not be considered ‘eligible’ for the ORPP.”
Read: Trucking industry’s ORPP concerns ‘laid to rest’
Meanwhile, the Ontario Conservatives called the ORPP “ill-conceived,” adding that it believes the new pension will further erode business competitiveness, reduce the take-home pay of workers and kill thousands of jobs.
“This job-killing payroll tax hinders the ability of the private sector to do what it does best – provide job opportunities for people and strengthen our economy to attract investment,” said Ontario PC critic for the ORPP and MPP for York-Simcoe Julia Munro.
“Businesses today have an additional concern: the government has the power to deem any company’s pension plan as comparable or not. This power creates further concern within the business community as to the impending effect of the ORPP.”
The main concern for the Conservatives is that, just 11 months before the ORPP begins implementation on Jan. 1, 2017, many employers still have not been contacted about whether they are exempt or not.