Public Sector Compensation "Restraint Bill" Raises Questions

On March 25, 2010, the Ontario government introduced the Public Sector Compensation Restraint to Protect Public Services Act, 2010 (the "Restraint Bill") as part of the 2010 provincial budget. The Restraint Bill contemplates salary freezes and spending restraints in the public sector to eliminate the current deficit by 2018 and to help "redirect up to $750 million toward sustaining schools, hospitals and other public services." This is not the first time in Ontario that a provincial government has sought by legislation to restrain public spending related to wages and other forms of compensation. The Restraint Bill is also not the only proposed piece of legislation dealing with wages in the public and quasi-public sector. The Ontario government recently announced an intention to link executive pay in hospitals to certain as yet undefined performance criteria. And perhaps most interestingly, Bill C-470, a private members bill, is currently before the House of Commons in