NDP Leader Howard Hampton says the agenda Dalton McGuinty has laid out in his Throne Speech fails to take the real, meaningful and immediate action that’s needed on key issues facing Ontario families and cannot be supported.

“Everyday Ontarians were looking for quick action on key issues: On manufacturing and forestry job loss, on poverty, on long-term care for seniors and on key environmental issues like climate change,” Hampton said.

“This Throne Speech failed on all fronts: No manufacturing and forestry jobs strategy, no concrete measure like an immediate $10 minimum wage to fight poverty, no minimum standards of care for seniors in long-term care and promises on the environment that have been broken time and time again and can’t be trusted,” he said.

Hampton called the promises in today’s Throne Speech “just words.” He vowed the NDP will serve as the real effective Opposition at Queen’s Park and make sure those words get translated into real effective legislation that helps working families.

“We’ve heard enough Dalton McGuinty platitudes, speeches and rhetoric. If Mr. McGuinty is looking for the support of New Democrats, he will have to deliver a more ambitious, activist agenda than the pablum agenda we see today,” Hampton said.

A real, serious activist agenda would include concrete measures to keep manufacturing and forestry jobs in Ontario, reduce poverty, improve care for seniors and tackle the climate change crisis. Hampton today unveiled a list of 10 practical solutions MPPs could move forward this session that would make an immediate difference for ordinary Ontarians (see attached backgrounder for full list).

”Words won’t create or sustain one job. Words won’t feed one hungry child, bathe one senior in long-term care or reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one gram. Ontarians deserve more than words. They deserve action, and they can count on New Democrats to make sure action is what they get from their Ontario government,” he said.

NDP puts forward 10 positive solutions for new session

NDP Leader Howard Hampton today put forward 10 positive solutions that would make a real positive difference in the lives of everday Ontarians. He urged Dalton McGuinty to prove he’s serious about running an activist government by adopting the measures and passing them into law during this legislative session.

The solutions focus on key issues facing Ontario -- job loss in manufacturing and forestry communities, poverty, long-term care for seniors and key environmental issues like climate change. They are measures the government could adopt that would build a stronger Ontario and improve the quality of life for its people.

“It’s time to put Dalton McGuinty to the test. Last Christmas, he gave himself a $40,000 pay raise in eight short days. This year, let’s see if he’s learned his lesson. Let’s see if he can move forward legislation that tackles the key issues facing Ontario families with he same zeal and commitment,” Hampton said.

The practical measures include:

Sustain manufacturing and forestry jobs

· Industrial hydro rate – To sustain jobs and sustain communities that have been hammered by the loss of manufacturing and forestry jobs, while at the same time promoting energy conservation and guaranteeing employment. Ontario has lost 175,000 good-paying manufacturing and forestry jobs since Dalton McGuinty became premier.

· A “Buy Ontario” policy - That would sustain manufacturing jobs by giving preferential treatment to goods manufactured in Ontario.

· A Jobs Commissioner - who would bring labour, management and government to the table to avert plant closures and job losses.

Reduce poverty

· A $10 minimum wage now – to ensure working people get a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work. Currently, a person earning a minimum wage of $8.75 working 40 hours a week will earn $18,200, leaving them nearly $2,600 below Statistics Canada’s Low Income Cut Off for people in Toronto.

· Stop the clawback of National Child Benefit Supplement that takes $1,500 away from low-income families, speed up the Ontario Child Benefit, and open more non-profit child care spaces – to help the 345,000 Ontario children who live below the poverty line.

· More affordable housing – to lift up the 123,000 Ontarians languishing on waiting lists. Over the last four years the McGuinty Government has created only 3,000 new units. Only 285 of them are less than $700 a month making them affordable to low income earners.

· A more ambitious public dental care plan – to help the thousands of Ontarians who can’t afford dental coverage. The proposed Liberal plan leaves huge gaps because it only covers low-income working Ontarians. The plan should cover all low-income Ontarians without coverage and all children regardless of their family’s income.

· Resource revenue sharing for First Nations – that would allow First Nations to benefit from the natural resources they control. Ontario’s First Nations, especially those in the North, have access to substantial mineral and resource wealth but the standard of living on many First Nations is among the lowest in Canada. The McGuinty Liberals need to start treating First Nations fairly – starting with a fair revenue sharing, so they can benefit from the mineral wealth on their traditional lands

Better health care for seniors

· A minimum standard of 3.5 hours of daily nursing and personal care per senior in long-term care – that would reward our parents and grandparents who built Ontario with the dignity in retirement too many are denied. Without a minimum standard, seniors can be neglected, left in urine-soaked diapers, left to develop bedsores, or face any number of social and physical difficulties. Without a minimum standard, family caregivers are forced to take on more and more duties in caring for their aging relatives.

Real action on the climate change crisis

· Resume Ontario’s traditional role funding 50% of public transit operating costs – so cash-strapped municipalities that are struggling with the high-cost of provincially downloaded services can freeze transit fares and get cars off the road – a quick and simple first step that would help address the climate change crisis and the municipal funding crisis.