NDP Leader Howard Hampton today slammed the McGuinty government for doling out more than $400-million in corporate hand-outs to the “Big Three” auto makers while they slash their Ontario workforce by 10,000.

“All of this is happening under the auspices of Dalton McGuinty’s vaunted Automotive Investment Strategy which for the past four years he has promoted as the saviour of the Ontario economy. The McGuinty Liberals strategy isn’t worth the paper it’s written on if there are no effective Ontario-wide job guarantees,” said Hampton.

Through a Freedom of Information request made by the NDP Caucus, it was revealed that General Motors committed to creating 900 jobs in return for a $235-million government investment, Ford committed to retaining 4,000 jobs in return for a $100-million government investment and Chrysler committed to retaining 5,200 jobs in return for a $76.8-million government investment.

In reality, the three automakers have collectively announced 10,000 layoffs since the introduction of the Automotive Investment Strategy in 2004: 5,500 at GM, 2,700 at Ford, and 2,000 at Chrysler.

“This is a glaring example of Dalton McGuinty’s economic policies simply not working. You would think that after $400-million worth of government investment, there would be effective job guarantees to allow workers to keep their jobs, not lose them,” said Hampton.

“It’s time Dalton McGuinty went back to the drawing board and start standing up for workers and their jobs with a real job creation program with real job guarantees,” said Hampton.