By Lindsey Cole
The Oshawa Express

When the thought the of Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) came to be, local MPP Jerry Ouellette thought hundreds of jobs would be lost in the community.
Those working at the Michael Starr Building, administering the provincial retail sales tax, would be out of work – abolished just like the tax, he told The Oshawa Express in a previous interview.
However, now those jobs will be saved and employees will be compensated in the form of severance packages averaging more than $19,000 each, even though many of those same employees won’t even change desks. However, they will switch from provincial to federal government employees.
According to the Ministry of Revenue, essentially all employees who work in Oshawa, Pickering and Whitby will be offered work within the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) location in Durham Region.
More than 500 jobs will stay in the community, states Scott Blodgett, media relations with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Revenue.
On top of that, those employees will be given severance packages because they did lose their provincial job, Blodgett states.
“As part of the Ontario government’s multi-year budget planning, the government sets aside a portion of money every year to provide severance due to job loss, attrition, etc.,” Blodgett says.

“This severance for 1,250 Ministry of Revenue employees who have been identified as impacted by the wind-down of retail sales tax and the move to the HST is within this allocation and as such has no incremental cost to government.”
If all of the 1,250 employees take their new jobs, the Ministry of Government Services estimates the total cost at $25 million in severance pay. This is an average of $19,952 per employee and was already incorporated into the multi-year compensation costs of the province, Blodgett explains.
According to a human resources agreement pertaining to the CRA, some employees will start their new jobs on Nov. 25, 2010. All other employees will start on March 1, 2012.
Employees were also offered a position within 40 kilometres of their current work location and years of service were recognized for entitlements, such as vacation leave and severance pay, the agreement states.
For Ouellette, the fact jobs were protected is a step in the right direction, he states in a press release.
“In light of the additional eight per cent to all Ontarians from the implementation of the controversial HST, there is good news,” he says.
“I am very pleased. This is an extremely significant announcement for our downtown which will generate a positive impact across our whole community.”
The HST will come into effect July 1 and essentially combines the GST and PST to a 13 per cent sales tax. Costs for many items ranging from haircuts to gas to real estate fees are slated to rise.