Toronto/CMEDIA: According to a recent Ontario news release, following approval of the Royal Assent on December 19, 2024 for the Working for Workers Six Act, David Piccini, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, issued the following statement:
“With our sixth Working for Workers Act now law, our government continues to bring better jobs and bigger paycheques back to Ontario, while we keep workers healthy and safe, no matter where they work — on a job site, a highway or the shop floor. The game-changing measures will grow Ontario’s workforce by bringing more women into the trades, crack down on bad actors who exploit newcomers, and improve occupational cancer presumptions for firefighters and fire investigators.
The Working for Workers Six Act and its suite of legislative, regulatory and other changes will include:
- Enhance safety for roadside workers by expanding existing requirements for drivers to slow down and move over when passing emergency vehicles and tow trucks under the Highway Traffic Act to also include prescribed work-related vehicles at roadside with flashing amber lights activated (excluding construction zones with posted speed limits).
- Support the safety and wellbeing of workers and their families by creating a new parental leave for parents through adoption and surrogacy so people never have to choose between being a worker or a parent; creating a new 27-week job-protected long-term illness leave for workers with a serious medical condition which is one of the longest provincial leaves in Canada; and requiring properly-fitting PPE for women in all sectors to bring more women into the trades. The province is also unlocking $400 million to invest in worker health and safety, including mental health and recovery, through the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).
- Improve cancer coverage for firefighters, investigators, and volunteers by removing the requirement that a firefighter’s primary-site colorectal diagnosis must be made before the age of 61 and lowering the required duration of service for primary-site kidney cancer care coverage from 20 to 10 years – the lowest duration of service in Canada.
- Grow Ontario’s workforce by investing up to $1.4 billion through the Skills Development Fund to train over one million workers in every corner of the province and attract more health care workers to Ontario by expanding immigration pathways for qualified health care workers.
- Keep costs down for workers and businesses by giving over $2.5 billion in WSIB surpluses to hundreds of thousands of safe employers and reducing employer premium rates to the lowest average level in half a century, and putting more money back into workers’ pockets by waiving the fee for apprentices taking their first Certificate of Qualification exam. Under Premier Ford, our government is putting over $19 million back into the pockets of apprentices, by saving each one up to $570 over the course of their apprenticeship journey.
- Honour workers by celebrating the contributions the Golden Generation of Skilled Tradespeople who built our province into what it is today, and who are passing on their wisdom and expertise to the next generation of workers to shape Ontario’s future, by creating a new Skilled Trades Week during the first week of November.
- Crack down on bad actors that exploit newcomers and harm workers by introducing new standards for immigration representatives and imposing penalties on those who violate these standards in the form of fines, multi-year bans and lifetime bans.
Building on the innovative actions across five previous Working for Workers Acts since 2021 to grow Ontario’s workforce, keep costs down for workers and businesses and support the wellbeing of workers and their families, the above changes to The Working for Workers Six Act, 2024 are another way the government is building a brighter future for all Ontario workers and their families and ensuring our province remains the best place to live, work and raise a family.”
