In the wake of a report showing a huge spike in the number of employment insurance claims filed across Northern Ontario, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath today demanded the McGuinty government deliver a jobs plan and oppose trade measures that might hurt the battered region.

A Statistics Canada report released last Friday showed that EI claims have jumped a whopping 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 during today’s Question Period, as she pressed the Liberals to admit they have no jobs plan for Northern Ontario.

“How many more jobs need to be lost before this government finally comes up with a jobs plan for northern Ontario?” she asked.

Horwath noted that even in Thunder Bay, a city benefiting from recent 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 the Federal government 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 – and, in fact, all of Ontario – 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?” asked Horwath.