No Dalton Days, McGuinty Says Now

11/18/09

Premier Blames Media for Fuelling Speculation

The Toronto Star Nov 18 2009

Robert Benzie



Premier Dalton McGuinty has popped his own trial balloon of using unpaid "Dalton Days" for public servants to slash Ontario's record $24.7 billion deficit.

After weeks of musing about reviving former NDP premier Bob Rae's "Rae Days" – even though the Supreme Court of Canada has since ruled that unilaterally reopening collective agreements is unconstitutional – McGuinty has backed down.
"I never said we were going to do that," the premier said Tuesday, blaming the media for fuelling speculation on how the Liberals would cut spending in the March budget.
"There's been lots of guessing and there's going to be all kinds of guessing between now and budget day, and speculation – that's a lot of fun. One of the things that life experience has taught me is that most guesses are wrong," he said.
Two weeks ago, while speaking to a business audience in Niagara-on-the-Lake, McGuinty lamented that the private sector has borne the brunt of the global recession while public servants have been "sheltered."
Asked about so-called Dalton Days on Nov. 4, he said: "I like the alliteration, but we're going to have to sit down with our public sector partners."
On Oct. 21, when asked if he would resurrect Rae's 1993 "social contract" that mandated 12 days of furlough, McGuinty coyly said: "We're just beginning this discussion."
The premier was unrepentant Tuesday after dangling the threat of Dalton Days for weeks.
"Why should I now say I'm not going to do something when I never said I was going to do it?" he said, emphasizing a special committee of six cabinet ministers and three backbench MPPs would study where government could find savings and report back to Finance Minister Dwight Duncan in time for the budget.
Ontario Federation of Labour president Wayne Samuelson said he has been assured there would be no forced unpaid holidays.
"They have said to me that they weren't going to do it. Having said that, they've said they are so many times that I'm a bit nervous," he said in an interview.
Samuelson said workers should find comfort in the 2007 Supreme Court decision striking down British Columbia legislation that dismantled union contracts and stripped job protection.
"A lot has happened since the early 1990s, a lot of water under the bridge. I think we've all learned a lot," said the OFL chief, whose organization represents 700,000 union members in the province.
Warren Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), said labour plans to closely watch the government's cost-saving exercise.
"But I don't think there will be Dalton Days. I never, ever did think there'd be Dalton Days," said Thomas, who represents 130,000 public service workers.