The Keep Ontario Working Coalition (KOW), in partnership with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) and the Owen Sound & District Chamber of Commerce, this week released an economic impact analysis of Bill 148, the Fair Workplaces Better Jobs Act. Conducted by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis (CANCEA), the study predicts that if the legislation is implemented as currently drafted, there will be significant, sudden and sizable uncertainty for Ontario including 185,000 jobs at risk in the first two years. The Owen Sound and District Chamber of Commerce says that 26% of the jobs in Grey County are at risk.

The report was released only in part, with more to come later this month, but it has already been challenged both by some economists and the Ontario government. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives responded that the concensus of two decades of research shows the "jobs at risk" number is inflated, and that while the analysis commissioned by KOW purportedly looked at all impacts of the Bill,  "it makes scant mention of benefits, and focuses its attention almost exclusively on costs."
Karl Baldauf, Vice President of Policy and Government Relations at the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and spokesperson for the Keep Ontario Working Coalition, states "The changes presented in Bill 148 will have dramatic unintended consequences that include putting close to two hundred thousand jobs at risk and seeing everyday consumer goods and services increase by thousands of dollars for each and every family in Ontario." The original release received by Owen Sound Hub on Monday had already been changed by Tuesday - the claim that spending "will go up by $1,300 per household on average each and every year" has been removed.  Based on the report's predicted 0.7% rise, the $1,300 figure would only be true if the average Ontario family were spending $185,000 - more than double the province's median household income.

Minister Flynn had further questions about the CANCEA report - "Where does it talk about the injection in to the economy?...Where does it talk about these people being able to work one job, instead of two or three?", and in a statement said "We will not back down from our plan to bring fairness to Ontarians. We will remain in the corner of those families who are counting on these supports."
CANCEA was commissioned by the KOW coalition of business sector representives  to measure the potential impacts of six key areas of change in Bill 148, including changes to minimum wages, "equal pay" provisions, vacation, scheduling, personal emergency leave (PEL) and unionization.

source: media release, Owen Sound Chamber of Commerce; MetroNews report; Ministry of Labour