Important Legislation on Safety and Ontario College of Trades

On Thursday, December 8, the Legislature will vote third reading on Bill 70, hopefully providing the government with the authority to act on two of OGCA’s priority issues.

Accreditation of Employers will give the Chief Prevention Officer (CPO) the authority to accredit or recognize employers who implement an effective OH&S management plan. This is one of the final proposals to be acted on from Tony Dean’s 2010 Report on modernizing our health and safety system, and it will provide a vehicle to recognize high performing employers. With this authority, the Ministry of Labour will be able to develop policy via a standard to recognize employers. With the standard, more owners will elect to use it for prequalification and the WSIB can use it to give an incentive or elevated rating.

We expect that COR^TM certified companies will meet or exceed the standards when they are established, providing greater benefits to members and increasing the number of certified companies.

We will keep you informed as the program is developed and implemented.

Reforms to the Ontario College of Trades were initiated in the 2013 election when the Liberal Party promised a series of reforms to the struggling Ontario College of Trades (OCOT). Tony Dean was appointed to conduct a review and make recommendations, and in November 2015, they were tabled. They included provisions to refer jurisdictional disputes to the OLRB, broader representation on the appointments council and a new process for certification reviews.

Bill 70 includes the required legislative changes and sets in motion reform inside OCOT.

The opposition has put up considerable resistance to the proposals which confirms that the College continues to be controversial. Moving forward, we will eventually have to deal with applications to certify many of the trades that our members work with. The new structure will be tested.