Provincial NDP Leader Andrea Horwath wants the McGuinty government deliver a jobs plan and oppose trade measures that might hurt Northern Ontario in the aftermath of a Statistics Canada showing a spike in the number of employment insurance claims filed across the region.
A Statistics Canada report released last Friday showed that EI claims have jumped 152 per cent in Greater Sudbury and 80 per cent in Sault Ste. Marie during the past year.
"There is a growing jobs crisis throughout Northern Ontario and the McGuinty government doesn't have the slightest idea what to do about it," said Horwath.
Horwath noted in Thunder Bay, despite a Toronto public transit contracts awarded to the local Bombardier plant, EI claims are up 42 per cent.
She warned that contracts like those might be a thing of the past if Ottawa agrees to American trade measures that would effectively forbid Buy Ontario policies meant to ensure Ontario tax dollars are used to create jobs here.
"With these trade measures, the North...is going to suffer. With so much at stake, why isn’t the McGuinty government opposing any trade deal that prevents local tax dollars from being used to create good-paying jobs here in Ontario?"
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