I am deeply concerned about…

I am deeply concerned about the amendments proposed. Ornamental horticulture serves a variety of industries by growing and marketing plants: Floral industries, greenhouses, and turf industries rely on the continued work conducted by ornamental horticulturalists; golf courses and other landscaping industries for private and public spaces also rely heavily on these professionals. By amending the Agricultural Employees Protect Act (AEPA), the Government of Ontario is not only threatening the jobs of those who work in ornamental horticulture, but the Government is also threatening jobs in a multitude of other industries that rely on ornamental horticulture for survival.

Child care is one of the most difficult issues facing families today; however, reducing regulations on home-based child care providers and allowing for additional children is not the way to solve the problem of affordable child care in Ontario. Private home-based child care facilities have been more heavily regulated in recent years due to tragic events that have befallen children in their care. In 2013, 2 year-old Eva Ravikovich died under the supervision of a home daycare provider. The issue of unlicensed home child care providers is very alarming and ought to be restricted. In fact, University of Toronto researchers discovered a disproportionate number of deaths occurring in unlicensed home child care providers. The Government of Ontario should be taking the safety and security of children very seriously by ensuring that there is necessary oversight and possible restrictions placed on home child care providers--as opposed to offering incentives as a way to solve affordable child care in Ontario. If the Government is serious about tackling affordable child care in Ontario, then the Government has to bring in better legislation that caps or reduces the cost of child care and/or offer substantial government subsidies to families to ensure they can attain safe child care and not break the bank at the same time.

Employment standards are extremely important. I understand the need to keep business and companies happy in order to secure more job creation and growth. I fail to understand why posting the Employment Standards Act (ESA), would jeprodize that goal. The amendment to remove the posters seems trivial at best and worrisome for new employees who may not be clear on what the ESA entails. All employees have rights, and their rights need to be respected. Removing posters, which in turn removes the information available, is akin to limiting and/or potentially censoring that information that needs to be available to all employees. I also fail to understand why this is even an issue. Have businesses been terribly inconvenienced by having to post the ESA? Has their business declined since the installation of these posters? What is the real reason for this amendment? If I did not know any better, I would hazard to say that it is to ensure that employees are less aware of their rights thus allowing employers to act in ways that may be in contravention to the ESA. On the surface, that is how it appears and I strongly encourage the Government of Ontario to remove that amendment.