Hudak’s million jobs pledge

(Updated) Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak has announced plans to create one million jobs over eight years in Ontario. The plan includes increasing trade with other provinces, reducing debt, and lowering Ontario taxes.

“I just believe that if you lower taxes in our province then businesses are going to invest. They’ll put out a new product. They’ll add a new machine, they’re going to hire more men and women.”

“The business reduction lowers the business tax rate down to 10 per cent. It will make us the equal with the lowest-taxed provinces in Canada, as I believe it will send a signal we’re open for investment, people will invest in our province, they’ll expand businesses, they’ll hire again.”

Hudak also says he wants to train more young people for skilled-trade jobs. The province lost 39,000 jobs last month. He assures the jobs created under his plan will be steady, well-paying jobs for Ontarians.

“Your odds of getting a minimum-wage job – they’ve doubled under the current government’s approach, supported by the NDP. If you want a good, steady job, with benefits and better take-home pay, look at my plan. It will create a million of these good, well-paying jobs in our province of Ontario again. But we’ve got to make these choices to get on this path.”

The Tories say Ontario is a “have-not” province after losing more than 300,000 manufacturing jobs while adding more than 300,000 government sector jobs.

Training, colleges and universities minister Brad Duguid is taking issue with Hudak’s plan, saying it will only create low-paying, part-time jobs which the province is already struggling with.

“At the same time, there are still are too many people out of work, so we’ve got to ensure that we’re providing help to those people, and our youth jobs strategy is an example of the kind of help we’re trying to provide.”

Duguid says the province has recovered since the economic downturn.

“There’s no question that during the global recession Ontario got hit very hard, but we have been recovering, and the fact that we’re up 164 per cent in jobs since the recession when in the U.S. they’re only at about 87 per cent tells me we’re doing something right in the province of Ontario.”

Hudak will introduce his bill when the legislature resumes sitting on February 18th.

Video: Brad Duguid on Hudak’s plan: