Ontario is facing a jobs crisis in manufacturing and the resource sector that demands action from the Ontario government.

The McGuinty Liberal government has continued to blame international forces and other levels of government for the problem. Howard Hampton and Ontario's NDP maintain that there are practical options available that will result in new job opportunities and provide immediate help for Ontario's working families.

Join Howard and the NDP Caucus in demanding immediate action from the McGuinty government to deal with this jobs crisis.

To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario

WHEREAS almost 200,000 Ontarians in the manufacturing sector have lost their jobs since June 2004, and

WHEREAS nearly 10,000 jobs have been lost in Ontario’s forest industry in that same time, and

WHEREAS the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs under the McGuinty government means that more than $6.6 billion in wages have disappeared from Ontario’s economy, and

WHEREAS Premier McGuinty and his fellow caucus members have consistently failed to acknowledge this problem or formulate any strategy to deal with this crisis, and

WHEREAS job losses in manufacturing and resources create further in-direct job losses in other businesses that rely on a health manufacturing and resource sector, and these in-direct job losses have greatly exacerbated the effect of the manufacturing and resource job crisis, particularly in Northern Ontario, and

WHEREAS Howard Hampton and Ontario’s NDP have consistently and repeatedly drawn attention to the jobs crisis in manufacturing and resources as well as proposing important reforms like a Jobs Commissioner and a plan for hydro rate relief which would help employers and workers in Ontario’s beleaguered manufacturing and resource industries compete with other jurisdictions in North America.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that this Legislature supports the new plan of Howard Hampton and Ontario’s NDP to reverse four years of misguided McGuinty policy of ignoring the manufacturing and resource sector jobs crisis with an ambitious three–part jobs stimulus package consisting of:

1) a manufacturing investment tax credit;

2) the immediate investment of $400 million in federal funds in vulnerable communities; and

3) an aggressive “Buy Ontario” program