Official Opposition calls for Fonseca's resignation & investigation into Dhalla affair

May 6, 2009

(Queen's Park) - Ontario's Minister of Labour has failed to do his job and has failed Ontarians by abusing the very laws he's responsible for upholding. Today in the Legislature, PC MPP Lisa MacLeod (Nepean-Carleton) demanded that the Minister step aside and called for an immediate investigation over the mishandling of the Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla affair.

According to a Toronto Star report, the Minister of Labour has known for two weeks about allegations that Magdalene Gordo and Richelyn Tongson were forced to work up to 16 hours a day, five days a week, for an estimated $1.56 an hour, well below the $9.50 minimum wage.

"What kind of labour minister sits by when workers are accusing his own friend of breaking the very labour laws he's brought forward?" asked MacLeod. "How can this Liberal government explain this failure to the Ontario public?"

The Minister has indicated that he will introduce a bill in the Ontario Legislature that would protect nannies and temporary workers.

"This is the height of hypocrisy," added Opposition Leader Bob Runciman (Leeds-Grenville). "Unfortunately, it appears as though the McGuinty Liberals think that they can pick and choose which laws to follow, especially when it concerns a Liberal Member of Parliament. It just doesn't work that way - Ontarians deserve better from their government."

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Employment standards

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: My question is for the Minister of Labour. According to the Toronto Star, you’ve known for two weeks that Magdalene Gordo and Richelyne Tongson were forced to work up to 16 hours a day, five days at approximately $1.56 an hour—well below your $10 minimum wage at Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla’s home. While you have personally trumpeted two bills in this chamber that would protect nannies and temporary workers, it would appear you’ve been silent for two weeks after you were made aware of these reported abuses of your own Ontario legislation. What kind of minister sits by when workers are accusing his own friend of breaking the very labour laws he’s brought forward? Minister, have you initiated an independent inquiry into Ms. Dhalla’s complaints?

Hon. Peter Fonseca: I thank the member for the question. The member is quite right that we have been out consulting in communities, meeting with nannies, and listening to their concerns—many groups, stakeholders, advocates, family, friends, and supporters. We’ve heard many stories, many stories that have saddened me. In all of those roundtables, those discussions that we have been having, what we have done is we have moved forward as a government and we have setup a 1-800 hotline to receive calls and we have a dedicated team to address all of those concerns. We have a dedicated team. At all of those meetings we’ve also distributed employment standards fact sheet information—

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you. Supplementary.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: When this minister was confronted with the complaint he did nothing about it. On the one hand this minister put forward legislation to protect nannies and temporary workers, while on the other hand he does nothing when his Liberal friend, Ruby Dhalla, is the target of a Toronto Star investigation which suggests she acted in contradiction of his own laws. It’s been reported that you attended a meeting two weeks ago—

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[Ms. Lisa MacLeod]

 ... hand does nothing when his Liberal friend, Ruby Dhalla, is the target of a Toronto Star investigation which suggests she acted in contradiction of his own laws.

1040

It’s been reported that you attended a meeting two weeks ago where these foreign workers cried out for help when they say Ruby Dhalla withheld their passports. Yet, not only did the federal Minister of Immigration say today in the Star, your own staff acknowledged that you did not pick up the phone and call the federal Minister of Immigration. Not only did you fail in your job as minister, you failed in your job as John Q. Public. I don’t know how you couldn’t pick up the phone and tell the proper federal authorities of this breach. Will you step aside until there is an independent investigation into the Dhalla affair and your own mishandling of it?

Hon. Peter Fonseca: The member is completely wrong. I have been meeting over many months, actually, with many of these caregivers. I did pick up the phone and I did call Minister Kenny. I explained to him many of the stories that we were hearing from these caregivers: They were telling us about a completely broken, flawed, program that they have federally. I encouraged Minister Kenny to take some leadership to fix that program because that’s what we’re doing here in this province.  We have setup a dedicated team to help with those that feel that they’ve been discriminated against, that feel that there’s been a contravention of the employment standards, and that team is there to assist any of those live-in caregivers, those nannies, with any claims that they may have.

We have heard these—

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you. Final supplementary.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Well, as Ruby Dhalla’s mentor and his federal leader said, “You didn’t get it done. You didn’t get it done.”  What kind of labour minister stands by and does nothing while it’s reported that their friend abused the very labour laws he’s responsible for? How can this Liberal government explain this failure to the Ontario public? You could have called the immigration minister—you chose not to. You could have told your own ministry officials—you chose not to. Minister, you don’t get to pick and choose who abides and who breaks your laws. They either do or they don’t. You have no credibility on this file. You failed as John Q. Citizen and you failed as labour minister.  Now that this issue is a national—and I repeat, national—embarrassment, will you step aside and ensure your government calls an independent investigation into Ruby Dhalla?

Hon. Peter Fonseca: That member and her party have voted against every piece of legislation that we have brought to this House to help vulnerable workers. Just the other day, that member and her party stood up against helping workers that—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you. Minister?

Hon. Peter Fonseca: That member and her party voted against helping vulnerable workers that work with temporary help agencies. That is a shame, I say, to that member.  I have picked up the phone. I have spoken to Minister Kenny. It is unfortunate that the federal government has not taken leadership on this very important matter. There is a completely broken live-in caregiver program in Canada that needs to be fixed. I would hope that Minister Kenny would take some leadership and fix that broken program because I’ve told Mr. Kenny—

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you. New question.

Mr. Robert W. Runciman: That disgusting response just endorsed the need for this minister to step aside

Employment standards

Mr. Robert W. Runciman: My question is for the Minister of Labour as well. This is a very serious issue related to the possibility of Liberal favouritism with respect to the application of Ontario laws. Hopefully, he will try to respond to the specifics.  We have been advised, through the media, that he and his colleague, the Minister of Education, at a public meeting, were advised by two individuals of serious violations of Ontario’s employment standards laws by a Liberal member of federal Parliament. I ask him specifically: Did he not believe that he had an ethical responsibility, with respect to this concern being expressed by these two individuals, to act and act at that moment?

Hon. Peter Fonseca: I say to the member, we have heard many stories, hundreds of stories, at all of these town halls and roundtable meetings that we’ve had. The vast majority of all the complaints and challenges that come from these stories are federally related.  Here’s what Minister Kenney had to say in terms of where they do fall under his responsibility. “If someone was working in a home who was here without a work permit appropriate for that job, that would be my ministry”—his ministry—“and so that should be reported to the officials of Immigration Canada. If someone was paid under the table without taxes paid, that should be reported to Revenue Canada. And if workers did not have their basic labour code rights respected, if they were forced to work more than 12 hours a day or something in that nature, that should be reported to the provincial Ministry of Labour”—

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you. Supplementary.

Mr. Robert W. Runciman: This isn’t a federal problem it’s a Liberal problem.  Not too many years ago, your colleagues asked for the head of the Solicitor General when potentially a young offender was identified in this House—a federal law. They asked for the head of the minister and they got it, they got it.

Interjection: Who was it?

Mr. Robert W. Runciman: You’re talking to him. That’s right.

Here we have an allegation of a violation of provincial laws; the minister is present; it involves a Liberal member of Parliament and you sat on your fanny and have done nothing about it? You have to resign, step down and let’s have an independent investigation.

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Minister?

Hon. Peter Fonseca: For all of this member’s bluster, if you look at his record here in this House, he has voted against vulnerable workers time and time again unlike this government, that is putting protections in place to address vulnerable workers in the province of Ontario. If all individuals, all groups, all stakeholders that I speak with—I always say, if there is an employment standards issue, if they would like to make a complaint, if they would like to make a claim, we have provided that information. But, as we can see from Minister Kenney’s remarks and quote, that most of this falls to the federal government, as when it comes to Immigration Canada or Revenue Canada. So I ask that member, pick up the phone, call your member in Ottawa and ask him to show a little bit—

Employment standards

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: About seven minutes ago I received an e-mail from the Minister of Immigration’s office.

Interjection: To who? Who are you talking to?

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: To the Minister of Labour. About seven minutes ago I received an e-mail from the Minister of Immigration. He says, for the record, if “there is any confusion, Minister Fonseca has never raised the issue of Magdalene Gordo and Richelyn Tongson with Minister Kenney. Nor has he or his staff raised it with Immigration ... officials. Fonseca spoke to Kenney a month ago to talk about the program generally; they haven’t spoken since and he’s never discussed the case with us or our officials.”

Would the minister like to correct the record? How can this province trust this minister when he tells one thing to the chamber and does another thing when he is outside of it?

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Minister?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Order. Minister?

Hon. Peter Fonseca: I’m glad that the member called the federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Mr. Kenney, because what I did is I picked up the phone many weeks ago, if not over a month ago, and spoke to Minister Kenney about all the issues that we were hearing in all our roundtables. It would be inappropriate of me—and the member should know this, or ought to know this—to speak about a particular case, but what I can say to the member is in that roundtable meeting, I acted immediately. I gave information to those caregivers immediately. They got information to be able to call our impartial, independent investigators so that they can get to work on the case. That’s how things are done here in a democracy. The member may not like that, but that is the right way to do things.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Supplementary?

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: The minister has lied to this chamber.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): I just—

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): I just ask the honourable member to withdraw the comment, please.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Mr. Speaker, out of respect for you I will withdraw. The minister may want to clarify his comments so that he is not misleading this chamber.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): And I just ask the honourable member to withdraw that comment, please.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I with withdraw out of respect for you but perhaps his comments have been misinterpreted by this side of the House.  He has often said to us to call our friends in the federal government. He has told this chamber to call a 1-800 number. The fact remains: that minister, the Minister of Education and a whole lot of people over in the Mississauga-Brampton area got together and they were told something that was reported in The Toronto Star that they did nothing about. I will ask again for the minister to step aside, call an independent inquiry into what Ruby Dhalla has done and to start upholding his own legislation that he brings into this chamber.

Hon. Peter Fonseca: Again, I picked up the phone. I called Minister Kenney over a month ago. I explained to him all the issues that we were hearing in our roundtables. Many of them, the vast majority of them, dealt with a flawed, broken live-in caregiver federal program. But what we have done—when we have gone out and consulted with live-in caregivers, we’ve acted immediately. We’ve provided information so that individuals that feel that they have a claim can have an independent investigator go in and do their job. They are highly trained professionals, to be able to go in and help the ...

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(Hon. Peter Fonseca)

 ... that feel that they have a claim can have an independent investigator go in and do their job—they are highly trained professionals—to be able to go in and help the claimant with that case.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): New question.