TORONTO - NDP leader Andrea Horwath launched an attack on Premier Dalton McGuinty's plan to freeze doctors salaries Friday, saying she was surprised the Liberals would begin contract talks in such a way.
McGuinty has said he'd ask Ontario's doctors to accept a two-year pay freeze once their contract runs out next March despite nurses and other heath-care workers recently having won wage increases.
The Liberals have called for a two-year wage freeze among the province's one million public sector workers, but have been having a hard time getting arbitrators to go along with it because no legislation was passed to enforce the freeze.
The Liberal leader told the Globe and Mail editorial board Thursday that he was convinced doctors would understand "where we find ourselves at this point in time" and noted that the doctor's current agreement provided significant fee increases.
But Horwath blasted McGuinty's plan as one that undermined front-line workers.
"We all know what Mr. McGuinty's freezes look like, although everybody's supposed to be frozen, some people get more frozen than others," Horwath said at Queen's Park on Friday morning. "I just think this is a wrong way to start a negotiations process."
Horwath said she would have liked McGuinty to commit to freezing the wages of the top executives at hospitals rather than those of front-line workers.
While Horwath said negotiations certainly do need to be held with Ontario's doctors, beginning talks with an "edict that says it's going to be zero" was no way to start.
"Meanwhile, taking care of those climbing CEO salaries is a move that needs to happen sooner rather than later," she said.
Capping the salary of hospital CEOs at twice that of the premier is a key plank in the NDP's health-care platform.
