No. 114 No 114 ISSN 1180-2987 Legislative Assembly Assemblée législative of Ontario de l’Ontario Second Session, 39th Parliament Deuxième session, 39e législature Official Report Journal of Debates des débats (Hansard) (Hansard) Tuesday 3 May 2011 Mardi 3 mai 2011 Speaker Président Honourable Steve Peters L’honorable Steve Peters Clerk Greffière Deborah Deller Deborah Deller Hansard on the Internet Le Journal des débats sur Internet Hansard and other documents of the Legislative Assembly L’adresse pour faire paraître sur votre ordinateur personnel can be on your personal computer within hours after each le Journal et d’autres documents de l’Assemblée législative sitting. 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Hansard Reporting and Interpretation Services Service du Journal des débats et d’interprétation Room 500, West Wing, Legislative Building Salle 500, aile ouest, Édifice du Parlement 111 Wellesley Street West, Queen’s Park 111, rue Wellesley ouest, Queen’s Park Toronto ON M7A 1A2 Toronto ON M7A 1A2 Telephone 416-325-7400; fax 416-325-7430 Téléphone, 416-325-7400; télécopieur, 416-325-7430 Published by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario Publié par l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario 5621 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE OF ONTARIO DE L’ONTARIO Tuesday 3 May 2011 Mardi 3 mai 2011 The House met at 0900. ment amendments to part IV of the Fire Protection and The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Good morning. Prevention Act, 1997. Please remain standing for the Lord’s Prayer, followed I’m also pleased to be joined in leading off today’s by a moment of silence for inner thought and personal debate by my colleague the Minister of Community reflection. Safety and Correctional Services. Prayers. I know everyone in this House will join Minister Bradley and me in expressing our deepest gratitude to the firefighters of this province, in saying thank you to ORDERS OF THE DAY Ontario’s firefighters for their hard work yesterday, today and tomorrow. It has been said that when someone be- comes a firefighter, their greatest act of bravery has been accomplished. What they do after that is all in the line of TIME ALLOCATION work. Resuming the debate adjourned on April 21, 2011, on As Ontario’s Minister of Labour, my mission is to the motion for allocation of time on Bill 151, An Act to advance safe workplace practices that are essential to the enact the Ontario Forest Tenure Modernization Act, 2011 well-being of Ontario’s workers, including those like our and to amend the Crown Forest Sustainability Act, 1994 / firefighters who put their lives on the line every day. Projet de loi 151, Loi édictant la Loi de 2011 sur la Our government is committed to working with our fire modernisation du régime de tenure forestière en Ontario safety partners to keep our communities and our fire- et modifiant la Loi de 1994 sur la durabilité des forêts de fighters safe. It is this concern for safety that was at the la Couronne. centre of the consultations with fire sector partners The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Further debate? undertaken by both the Ministry of Community Safety Mr. Phillips has moved government notice of motion and Correctional Services and the Ministry of Labour. number 55. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion This proposed legislation that resulted from these con- carry? sultations will bring greater clarity and uniformity to the All those in favour will say “aye.” issue of mandatory retirement in the fire sector for the All those opposed will say “nay.” sake of firefighters, our fire services and the public they In my opinion, the ayes have it. serve. This vote will be deferred to the conclusion of Speaker, you will know that prior to the introduction question period for deferred votes. of Bill 181, a motion was passed in this House by unani- Vote deferred. mous consent on March 10, 2011. That motion, brought forward by our colleague the member for Algoma– Manitoulin, recognized the important role Ontario fire- FIRE PROTECTION AND PREVENTION fighters play every day in keeping our communities safe. AMENDMENT ACT, 2011 The motion made mention of evidence of the increased LOI DE 2011 MODIFIANT health and safety risks to firefighters over the age of 60. It is also important to note that the motion reflects current LA LOI SUR LA PRÉVENTION practice and upholds a recent Human Rights Tribunal ET LA PROTECTION CONTRE L’INCENDIE decision. Mr. Sousa moved second reading of the following bill: As I mentioned, that motion received all-party support Bill 181, An Act to amend the Fire Protection and in calling upon the Ontario government to introduce Prevention Act, 1997 / Projet de loi 181, Loi modifiant la legislation to allow for the mandatory retirement of full- Loi de 1997 sur la prévention et la protection contre time firefighters who battle fires on the front lines. l’incendie. Today’s proposed legislation under Bill 181 is the result The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Debate? of consultations that were initiated by request of this Hon. Charles Sousa: I’ll be sharing my time with the Legislature following unanimous consent to proceed. member from St. Catharines. The proposed legislation we are discussing today I’m happy to rise today to lead off on the second actually addresses two issues of concern to the fire com- reading debate of the Fire Protection and Prevention munity. The first is mandatory retirement, and the second Amendment Act, 2011, a bill to enact labour and employ- addresses duty of fair representation. I will speak to both 5622 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO 3 MAY 2011 this morning but will begin by addressing the proposed 0910 amendments around mandatory retirement for salaried I would like to stress that our proposed changes on firefighters regularly assigned to fire suppression duties. mandatory retirement generally reflect current practice in In 2005, the Legislature eliminated mandatory retire- most municipalities. There are approximately 11,000 ment in Ontario for most employees with the passage of full-time firefighters in Ontario. We understand that only the Ending Mandatory Retirement Statute Law 65 of the 1,254 firefighters who retired between 2005 and Amendment Act, 2005. That legislation amended the 2009 were over the age of 60. We have also learned definition of age in the Human Rights Code to remove through our discussions that the average age of retire- the upper age limit of 65 as it applied to discrimination in ment for salaried firefighters in Ontario is 57. employment. In total, there are approximately 80 collective agree- However, the Ending Mandatory Retirement Statute ments in Ontario that cover firefighters under part IX of Law Amendment Act did not change the bona fide occu- the Fire Protection and Prevention Act. Of these 80 pational requirement exception to the prohibition against agreements, we know that about two thirds contain a discrimination in employment. To be clear, what this mandatory retirement age. The vast majority of those means is that the Human Rights Code continues to allow already stipulate the age as 60. The amendment we are for mandatory retirement where age can be shown to be a discussing today serves to reinforce what currently exists bona fide occupational requirement. Importantly for the in the majority of firefighter collective agreements. amendment we are discussing today, mandatory retire- Also consistent with current practice is the recognition ment at age 60 for firefighters engaged in suppression that salaried firefighters involved in fire suppression activities has generally been found by the Human Rights duties may continue to make a valuable contribution to Tribunal to be a bona fide occupational requirement. their local fire service in other ways. To that end, sup- Tribunals have reviewed extensive medical evidence pression firefighters would not be compelled to retire if and have generally found that age is a very significant their employer could accommodate them by assigning contributor to the risk of cardiac events among fire- them to other duties without causing the employer undue fighters. There is a significant increase of cardiac disease hardship. For example, front-line firefighters who have around the age of 60, and the safety consequences of reached the retirement age of 60 might have the oppor- such an event for a firefighter, the public, and his or her tunity to be assigned to other duties in the fire service, colleagues may be grave. like fire prevention, if such positions exist. Since its introduction, Bill 181 has received the I would also like to take just a moment to speak to the support of the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Associ- important work done across our province by volunteer ation, who are here today. It acknowledges their concern firefighters. First, I want to reiterate that this legislation for increased health and safety risks with age and demon- does not impact volunteer firefighters. We are very aware strates our collective concern for the well-being of of the crucial role that volunteer firefighters play, Ontario firefighters. especially in smaller municipalities, and the necessary We are all aware that firefighters engaged in active and vital contribution they make to the safety of those firefighting work under unique conditions.