“…you have to admit (Hudak’s ideas) are carefully thought out and contribute coherently to a multi-layered vision of what a newly prosperous Ontario would look like.”
- Luisa D’Amato, The Waterloo Region Record, July 27, 2012

GRIMSBY – Ontario can again achieve its full potential as a magnet for job creation and investment, but only with urgent action to stop government overspending and focus on job creation, PC Leader Tim Hudak said today.

“This government has taken a tough economy and made it worse – and only the Ontario PC Caucus has the new ideas to get our fiscal house in order and our economic fundamentals right,” Hudak said. “Without a bold new path, we face a debt that’s set to triple by 2017, deterring investment and driving away even more jobs.”

Hudak made the comments as he welcomed his Caucus to Grimsby in the Niagara Region – which has suffered a whopping 39 per cent drop in manufacturing jobs in the last decade, leaving it with the highest unemployment rate in Ontario at 10.9 per cent. Hudak’s team is meeting to build on the Ontario PCs’ comprehensive plan for a more prosperous province. “We’ll be bringing forward more bold ideas to get Ontario working again,” Hudak said. “As this government digs us even deeper, we know complacency is not an option – given the magnitude of the challenges we face.”

The government continues doubling-down on the same failed policies that have the province careening toward a $30 billion deficit. These include canceling job-creating tax relief, continuing with costly energy policies that are driving up electricity rates and driving away businesses, and voting against the Ontario PCs’ mandatory public-sector wage freeze legislation to save $2-billion annually, among others.

“This government’s reckless overspending has put the things we value – like dependable health care and excellence in education – at risk,” Hudak stressed. Interest payments on our massive debt sap money from the front-line services we depend on. High debt loads also deter job creation, because they tell investors we can’t afford the things that make us an attractive place to do business, like low taxes and solid infrastructure.”

As evidence, new Statistics Canada data shows that Ontario has now lagged Canada in job creation for 67 consecutive months, Hudak noted. “But it doesn’t have to be this way. Ontario can do better, and my team will continue to bring forward positive ideas for as long it takes to ensure Ontarians can find good-paying jobs again.”

Those ideas include treating energy as a cornerstone of economic growth, tax relief for businesses, changing the attitude of government by welcoming job creators – not deterring them with regulations and red tape – and a bold revision of this province’s 1940s-era labour laws that hamper Ontario’s ability to compete, as proposed in the Paths to Prosperity: Flexible Labour Markets white paper.

“The march to a more prosperous future for Ontario begins here today,” Hudak concluded.