NDP MPP Peter Kormos blasted the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) management for violating its jobs mandate and contributing to economic uncertainty in a region already hard hit by manufacturing job losses, amid ongoing rumours that there will be further job cuts at Casino Niagara.

“This is an organization that has already laid off 104 employees at a time when the Niagara region is being hurt by job losses in the auto parts industry and other manufacturing sectors,” Kormos said. “It’s time the McGuinty government reminds the OLG that it has a mandate to take community economic conditions into account before they take actions such as these. “

On its website, the OLG promotes its contributions to local communities and brags specifically about how it provides jobs for more than 20,000 Ontarians.

According to Kormos, the McGuinty government, as the sole share-holder of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, must ultimately be held accountable for ongoing layoffs at the Casino. “This is a community that’s being hit hard by layoffs, like the 537 workers laid off at the Dana plant in Thorold. This community simply cannot afford to have an Ontario agency laying off hundreds more,” said Kormos.

For months, the NDP has been attacking the McGuinty government’s inaction on Ontario’s job crisis calling for a Jobs Protection Commissioner, regional hydro pricing to protect resource jobs in the North, and tougher plant closure legislation.