College of Trades debated in Ontario Legislature
NEWS RELEASE
Ted Arnott, MPP
Wellington-Halton Hills
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2013
College of Trades debated in Ontario Legislature
(Queen’s Park) – On April 10, the Ontario Legislature debated a motion brought forward by
Simcoe North PC MPP Garfield Dunlop calling for the abolition of the Ontario College of Trades.
The Ontario College of Trades was established by the McGuinty Government to regulate all
approved trades in Ontario including licencing, the setting of training standards, and discipline
for members. It became fully operational on April 8, 2013.
In recent months, the Ontario PC Caucus has raised many concerns about the Ontario College
of Trades, arguing that it amounts to an unfair tax on tradespeople.
“My colleague in the Legislature, Garfield Dunlop, was a plumber before he was elected. He
wants to keep up his certification in his trade. It used to cost him $20 a year to maintain his
licence. As a result of the Ontario College of Trades, this will now cost him $120 a year. When
you take into account HST, he says it will cost him 676% more each year. His is just one
example,” Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott explained.
“I have been advised that while there may be some merit to the idea of placing trade
representatives at the head of trade governance, the way this Liberal Government has gone
about it will create a new bureaucracy of highly paid positions and amount to a tax on workers,”
Mr. Arnott noted. “We’ll see positions that in the past have been filled by volunteers, instead
become paid positions, paid for by these astronomical fee increases.”
“The Government’s priority should be encouraging job creation and stimulating economic
growth, not creating new fees and more barriers to economic development,” Mr. Arnott argued.
“Their efforts would be better spent focusing on helping workers who have recently lost their
jobs.”
Despite the efforts of the Ontario PC Caucus, the Liberals and NDP teamed up to vote the
motion down.
“This is another example where the Wynne Government has chosen to follow the same policy
agenda that Dalton McGuinty set in motion, and where the NDP and the Liberals have found
common ground,” Mr. Arnott concluded.
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Ted Arnott, MPP
Phone: 416-325-3880
Email: ted.arnott@pc.ola.org