OSHAWA – Oshawa, Pickering, and Whitby are set to lose
more than 300 well-paid jobs as the Ontario Ministry of Finance (MoF)
hands over corporate tax collection and audit work to the federal
government.
Under an agreement signed between Ontario finance
minister Greg Sorbara and federal finance minister Jim Flaherty, all
work related to corporate taxation is being transferred to the Canada
Revenue Agency (CRA) of the federal government. MoF staff across the
province learned details of the transfer today. All affected tax
auditors will receive job offers from the CRA, which takes over their
work on April 3, 2008. Office administration staff, including clerks and
secretaries, will not receive job offers. They will be laid off in
stages over the next two to three years.
“As far as the impacts on staff, we believe the
agreement we’ve negotiated will protect our members from job loss,
although unfortunately not from the dislocation of having to move,” said
Patty Rout, First Vice-President/Treasurer of the Ontario Public Service
Employees Union. “In terms of the impact on cities, though, Oshawa and
area will be very hard hit. The CRA does not have offices here, so we
are losing more than 300 well-paid jobs and about $20 million worth of
payroll in the area.”
The Ministry of Finance employs over 600 people to do
corporate tax collection and auditing out of offices in a dozen Ontario
cities. The largest group is at the Michael Starr building in Oshawa.
“Our city is about to lose thousands of auto industry
jobs,” said Rout, an Oshawa resident. “Our local economy doesn’t need
another hit.”
OPSEU has long opposed the transfer of corporate tax
administration to the CRA.
“By transferring this work out of the Ministry of
Finance, Ontario is losing control of a large part of its revenue
stream,” said Rout. “Without our own staff to police the corporate tax
system, we will lose millions of dollars. Our public services can only
suffer as a result.”
