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The Labour Movement and the Ontario NDP: The Effect of Long Term Relations on Policy Outcomes by Mark Eo Hawman Department of Political Science Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts Faculty of Craduate Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontazio October, 1996 National Library Biblioth4que nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques The author has granted a no* L'auteur a accord6 une licence nm exclusive licence allowing the National hiof Canada to Biblioth&qyenationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distniute or sell repduke,*, distr'buerou copies of Mer thesis by any means ~ndredes copies de sa thhe de and in any form or format, making this thesis available to interested fome qye a soit pour mettre &s exemplaires de ceUe thbe & la disposition des personnes &&ess&s. The author retains own- of the L'auteur cooserve la propria6 du copyright m Mer thesis. Neither bitd'autem qui pot@ sa thh. Ni the thesis nor substantial extmcts la these ni des extraits substantiels de fiom it may be printed or otherwise celle-ci ne doivent &re imprhnes ou reproduced with the author's permission. Abstract The thesis applies a meso level structural analysis to the actions of a pressure group, the Ontario Federation of Labour. Three variables determine whether the group's actions involved policy participation or advocacy within a policy conununity; the autonomy exercised by the state and its agencies in the policy process, the organizational development of the sectoral interest as detedned by the nature of its membership and its internal structuze, and any relations existing between the interest and the state. The -. long term relationship between the OFL and the New Democratic Party is chronicled to show the differing interests of the two groups, which determined particular policy outcomes under the NDP government. The process involved in two policy networks, the reform of the Labour Relations && and the imposition-of a Social Contract upon public sector employees, is analysed with the objective of demonstrating the organizational development of labour as a pressure group. The autonomy retained by the state primarily determined the outcome, and the relationship between the pressure group and the state only affected the nature of the process involved. iii Acknowledgment I wish to convey my thanks to my advisor, Professor Sid Noel, whose insightful cowasats and calming influence made it possible to complete the thesis despite the inevitable obstacles which arose. Thanks are also in order for the entire staff of the Department of Political Science, who helped steer me through the administrative wilderness unharmed. The contributions, both large and small, of family, friends and classmates are too great to properly address, but they all combined to make for an enjoyable year. This work is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Peggy, whose lifelong veneration of higher education greatly influenced the Life's path of her son. Table of Contents Certificate of Examhation ii Abstract iii Acknowledgment iv Table of contents V Introduction 1 Methodology and Level of Analysis 3 Labour as a Pressure Group 6 Links Between Labour and the NDP 14 The NDP in Ontario 15 Labour in Ontario Politics 26 The NDP and Labour 30 Labour's Approach to the NDP 35 s- s- 39 The Ontario Reform Process 42 Events in the Process 43 The Actions of the OEZ 48 The Actions of Business Groups 57 ST 65 The Social Contract Negotiations Process 66 The Social Contract Process 67 Labour and the Social Contract 75 The NDP and the Social Con-act 87 summary 90 Conclusion 93 Bibliography 99 Vita 103 September 6, 1990 marked the first tima in Ontario's history that the New Democratic Party (NDP) formed a govexnment. The actions of the NDP govetnmant, and the influence of the labout movement upon it, have yet to be examined adequately. Accounts of this period have been journalistic descriptions of events, with little academic analysis. This thesis is an attempt to apply a political science perspective to the events and consider a number of large questions. Bow are policy outcomes arrived at? How does the state exercise its power to create public policy? What role do pressure groups and political parties occupy in creating public policy, and what effects do their roles have on democracy? Bow do the dynamics of group relations inf hence interaction between government and groups in specific instances? To contribute to our understandings of these larger issues requires utilising a coherent framewosk from which such research can be carried out. The particular example of the relationship between the NDP and labour is suggested as providing further empirical evidence to substantiate the arguments of William Coleman and Grace Skogstad regarding policy communitiesl , and Paul P1oss~s2 1 William 0. Coleman and Gram Skqstad, eds.. P- (Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman Ltd., 1990). 2 A. Paul Pm.ELpyp PvPm-, (Toronto: Oxford University Press. 1992). st* groups. Since the formation of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and its evolution into the NDP in 1961, organized labour groups have been assumed to have significant influence over the party. If the predictions foretelling of the decline of political paxties3 are to be believed, then the prospects of a relationship with a political party should be unappetizing to a preasure group. And yet, even after the strains brought about by the Rae government's Social Contract, Ontario labour continues to place emphasis on its connections with the Ontario NDP. It will be argued elsewhere that the relationship between the HDP and labour in Ontario has never been as harmonious as critics of the party and labour have alleged. The purpose of this chapter is to elucidate the argument that the relationship of labour and the Ontario NDP is tangential to the primary activities of labour pressure groups. Further, the motivation of labour to have a connection with the NbP was to allow labour a voice in areas where it traditionally lacked input over policy due to exclusion ftom the sub-govezmment of varioue policy communities. 4 The inclusion or exclusion of labour as a member of the sub-government in various sectors has had a 3 Beginning with obsewations as early as 1965. John Meisel has presented arguments explaining how the previously dominant pasition of Canadian political parties has been usustainable in the face of increased interest group activity. and state bureaucratizatim. See John Meisel, 'Decline of Party in Canada,' in .. in ., Hugh G. Thorbum, ed., (Scarborough: Prentice-Hall, 1996) 225245. 4 A policy community in this mtext refers to m...thatpart of a poWSystem that has axquired a dominant voice in determing government decision in a field of public acthdty." Pross, P- P- 119. The relevant example for this paper is the policy community surrounding the regulation of the workplace through vehicles such as the Labour Rerations Board, or the Workmen's Compensation Board, where the input of labour is sought by the state. ....3 greater influence on labour's activities than its links with the NDP, and was determinative of the relations between labour and the NDP government. The objective of the study is to investigate the employment-relations policy community within Ontario, and compare the actions of labour as an organized interest within the participatory network of the Labour a reforms culminating in Bill 40, and the advocacy network that surrounded the Social Contract negotiations between labour and the provincial government. Methodology and Level of Aaalysis The methodology which Coleman and Skogstad utilise to analyse public policy and pressure groups is sectoral or structural in nature, where the focus is upon the meso level of state activity.5 The merits of this approach are that it focuses upon the capabilities of the state and societal actors in a particular sector and the relationships that arise between them. Broader macro theories of the state do not account for the rich variety of relations between eociety and the state which a meso level analysis reveals. As the area of study of the thesis is primarily concerned with labour policy and related areas in Ontario, a sectoral analysis is most appropriate as it allows for a focused examination of a particular area of the state and a particular pressure group. 5 A meonanalysis focuses upon the intermediate level of the subject under study. In the context of the state this refers to a specific sector of the state as opposed to a macro analysis (of very broad scope) or a micro analysis (of very limited scope). .... 4 The structural or institutional approach holds that the pceferences and values of policy actors are shaped fundamentally by their structutal position.6 As such the nature of political institutions promote certain ideologies and constrain the choices of individuals. To appreciate the value systems present within institutions favours analysing the historries of such institutions, and relying upon interviews with institution members. For our purposes this translates into investigating the histories of the NDP, various labour organizations, and certain elements of the bureaucracy. Such research will be approached from the perspective of labour's actions being determined more by the nature of the state apparatus with which it had to interact, rather than any relationship with the political party in government. The framework utilised by a sectoral analysis conceives of the state and those interested in influencing the state as constituting policy communities and policy networks. A policy community includes &... all actors or potential actors with a direct or indirect interest in a policy area or function who share e common policy focus, and who, with varying degrees of influence shape policy outcomes over the long run.

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