OTTAWA – Ontario can once again be the economic engine of Confederation but only if we get the fundamentals right – and central to this is to modernize the province’s outdated labour laws, Ontario PC MPP Rod Jackson said today.

Jackson made the comments while touring Annidis Health Systems, a biomedical company that undertakes research and develops cutting-edge equipment to improve healthcare delivery. Jackson was joined by a delegation of other Ontario PC MPPs who discussed reining in spending and kick-starting growth to create jobs.

“The world has changed, and our economy has changed with it,” Jackson said. “To help Ontario regain its competitive edge, Tim Hudak and the Ontario PC Caucus recently unveiled Paths to Prosperity: Flexible Labour Markets – the second in a series of PC discussion papers on bold new ideas for creating jobs,” Jackson added.

The paper proposes action in four key areas: giving the individual worker a choice on becoming or remaining a union member; making union leaders more accountable to unionized employees; modernizing tendering rules to open up more government work to private sector competition; and reforming Ontario’s workplace agencies for a more flexible workforce and job creation.

Carleton-Mississippi Mills MPP Jack MacLaren added “It’s time to get Ontarians back to work. We need a comprehensive integrated plan that updates labour laws and creates the right environment for jobs and growth.”

Other ideas put forward by the Ontario PCs to create jobs and kick-start growth by getting the fundamentals right includes:

  • Rein in spending with a mandatory public sector wage freeze and allow businesses and private sector unions to compete for government contracts;
  • Reduce the cost of doing business by lowering taxes and treat affordable energy as a cornerstone of economic growth;
  • Change the attitude in government by welcoming job creators, not deterring them with regulations and red tape; and
  • Create 200,000 jobs in the skilled trades by allowing employers to take on more apprentices. This means more electricians, ironworkers and carpenters.

Jackson concluded “We need a growing economy across Ontario to ensure continued prosperity here in Ottawa and across the region.”

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