In the fourth review of the AODA, Rich Donovan states that Ontario will not be fully accessible by 2025. In other words, the provincial government will not meet its own deadline under the AODA. Limited creation, implementation, and enforcement of AODA standards impacts the well-being and safety of Ontarians with disabilities. Therefore, Donovan recommends that the Ontario government should declare this lack of progress on accessibility a crisis. This crisis state should last six (6) months. During this time, the Ontario government should form a crisis committee to implement crucial accessibility improvements in the province. The Premier should act as the chair of this committee, and the Secretary of Cabinet should act as co-chair. Furthermore, Donovan outlines tactical recommendations the province should follow to fulfill its remaining responsibilities in the public sector. One of these tactical recommendations is pay deductions for deputy ministers who do not meet accessibility goals.
Pay Deductions for Deputy Ministers who Do Not Meet Accessibility Goals
One of the review’s primary goals is to hold the provincial government accountable for implementation of accessibility plans. Under the review’s recommendation for establishment of accessibility plans, deputy ministers of government departments must authorize these plans. In short, the deputy minister overseeing an accessibility plan should have incentives to achieve the goals in the plan.
Recommendations
Therefore, the review recommends pay deductions for deputy ministers whose departments do not achieve the goals in their accessibility plans. The Treasury Board Secretariat should require each deputy minister to sign their department’s accessibility plan. In other words, each department’s minister must read the plan and understand the:
- Accessibility barriers identified in the plan
- Processes for removing these barriers
- Feedback process that is part of the plan
In addition, the Secretariat should hold each deputy minister financially accountable for achieving the goals in their department’s plan. If a minister’s department does not remove all the barriers it plans to, the Secretariat should deduct five percent (5%) of the deputy minister’s pay.