Ontario is facing a severe dilemma due to payments exceeding $6 billion to public sector workers on a broader scale as a result of a wage restraint legislation issued by the provincial government which was found to be unconstitutional.

Bill 124 had set salary increases for public sector workers broadly at 1 percent annually for three years, but after Ontario’s Court of Appeal ruled it unconstitutional, the government repealed it.

Since a lower court first found the law unconstitutional in 2022, unions with so-called reopening clauses in their contracts have sought retroactive wage increases above 1 percent annually, and in most cases have received much larger amounts.

Senior government officials not authorized to speak publicly about the costs to the Canadian press confirm these awards have so far reached $6,000,800,000.

 The province’s top financial accountability official highlighted in a report earlier this month that the compensations — largely in the health and education sectors — related to the law known as Bill 124 caused the government to spend billions more than planned this year.

 Confirmation of the cost of reopening payments so far comes as Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is scheduled to deliver next year’s budget in less than two weeks.

 In the minister’s latest financial update before the budget, and the release of third quarter financials last month, he forecast Ontario will end the year with a deficit of $4.5 billion, larger than the $1.3 billion he projected in last spring’s budget.

 The province used what the Food and Agriculture Organization highlighted as an unusually large emergency fund to offset some of the increased compensation costs, with $3.3 billion remaining in the fund at the time of the third-quarter finance report’s release.

 The Food and Agriculture Organization said the wage increases to compensate public sector workers under Bill 124 could cost the government more than $13 billion.

 Since a trial court found the law unconstitutional for the first time, arbitrators have granted retroactive additional wages to several groups of public employees, including teachers, nurses, other hospital workers, public service employees, public health workers in Ontario, ORNGE air ambulance paramedics, and college faculty members.

 Employees of the Ontario Alcohol and Gaming Commission are among the latest workers to receive back pay, with an arbitrator granting them an additional 6.5 percent over the three years of their most recent contract, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union announced this week.