The mayor of Tecumseh is sounding the alarm over impacts that Bill 148 could have on municipal operations and taxpayers.
Gary McNamara says the Fair Workplaces and Better Jobs Act could turn volunteer fire departments, like the one in Tecumseh, into full time ones and that could cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year or could lead to service cuts.
McNamara says municipalities can't afford the legislative changes and they will put firefighters at odds with each other.
"You have a volunteer or part time [firefighter] that comes in at $23 or $26 on average across the province and a full time firefighter at $43," says McNamara.
McNamara is urging municipalities to send letters to the premier and the Minister of Labour voicing their displeasure with the proposed legislation, demanding a proper costing and demanding better consultation with municipalities.
McNamara says the changes will have unintended consequences on municipal operations and emergency services.
"I can see municipalities laying off and reducing services because of affordability. You're talking millions of dollars that would impact municipalities," the mayor says.
McNamara says it's not just firefighters, on-call pay rates may also reduce local services.
"Snow plow operators. You got to have them and we certainly don't know when snow will come. You have a four hour standby now and everybody is on standby," McNamara says.