Our Ontario PC Caucus has always maintained that jobs and the economy should be front and centre as the government’s main priorities.
We recognize that provincial governments can’t directly create jobs, except in the public sector itself. However, it is the responsibility, indeed the obligation, of the provincial government to create an economic climate where entrepreneurs and companies will want to invest and create new jobs in Ontario.
Part of creating a positive business climate involves ensuring our tax structure and business regulations and red tape are competitive when compared to other jurisdictions.
We know that it is only through a strong and growing economy that government will have sustainable revenue to pay for the programs we all value, like health care, our schools, safe communities and food, and protection of our natural environment. And, the best social program of all is a job.
Those are some of our Caucus’ bedrock beliefs, and they are shared by many in Wellington-Halton Hills.
People in our riding go to work and play by the rules. We believe that government should not waste tax dollars, and government should not be focused exclusively on dividing up a shrinking economic pie and managing decline.
Instead, government should spend wisely and frugally, and focus on growing the economic pie.
It will come as no surprise that I’m not satisfied with the efforts of the current Liberal government when it comes to encouraging private sector job creation. For years, as Ontario has slipped behind the rest of the country and declined economically into a “have not” province, relying on huge deficits and federal government equalization to fund programs, we have rung the alarm bells.
As far back as 2005, three years before the Great Recession hit, I called upon the McGuinty Liberals to have committee hearings into the challenges faced by our manufacturing sector.
It was my hope that we could bring business, labour and government together to form an action plan to address these challenges head on, and create a magnet for job creating investment in Ontario.
Even though the Legislature passed my motion, and despite my prodding, the government refused to hold the hearings, and little was done by the Liberals to encourage our manufacturers. In the years since then, we have lost about 300,000 manufacturing jobs in this province.
In its most recent budget, the Wynne government promised to create 30,000 new jobs for young people over two years.
To place this in context, early in July, Statistics Canada reported that Ontario had lost 38,700 full-time jobs in the previous month of June alone.
We recognize that opposition parties need to do more than just criticize. We also have an obligation to bring forward constructive proposals.
It was in that spirit that I introduced my jobs motion in 2005, and in that spirit our Caucus has released Paths to Prosperity: Advanced Manufacturing for a Better Ontario. It can be found on our Party’s website at: http://www.ontariopc.com/policy.
I intend to provide more details about our manufacturing jobs proposals in this space next month.
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With the Ontario Legislature in its summer recess, I am mostly working in our Wellington-Halton Hills riding office and attending community events. I’m also enjoying some time with my family.
If you require any assistance on matters pertaining to the Government of Ontario, please do not hesitate to contact me at 1-800-265-2366. My website is www.tedarnottmpp.com.