The McGuinty government has left hundreds of workers in Hamilton to fend for themselves by arbitrarily rejecting their applications for the Second Career Program.

“More than 100 people who had completed their applications in early September were turned down after the Ministry imposed an arbitrary deadline of August 31,” charged NDP Education Critic Rosario Marchese.

Second Career was launched with great fanfare by the McGuinty government in 2008. It was supposed to help retrain workers who lost their jobs due to the recession and help integrate them back into the workforce.

In the Legislature Marchese revealed that in September the government retroactively capped admission to the program denying hundreds of applicants’ access to skills retraining days before they expected to start courses.

“These unemployed men and women did everything they were asked to do, they fulfilled all the requirements for the program and at the last minute the government shut the door on them,” said Marchese.

“The program is a mess and has been for two years,” Marchese said. “Many applicants have complained about a lack of accountability, conflicting requirements for acceptance, lack of clarity about funding and the length of application processing times.”

“Either the Minister does not know what his ministry is doing or he is turning a blind eye to this cruel and insensitive treatment of unemployed men and women,” said Marchese.