– NDP Leader Howard Hampton today slammed the McGuinty Liberals’ job re-training program that leaves thousands of laid-off Northern Ontario forestry workers out in the cold.

“The McGuinty Liberals are telling more than 10,000 laid-off workers in Northern Ontario that they don’t count and are not worthy of job retraining,” said Hampton.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton called on the McGuinty Liberals today to keep their promises and release money they announced multiple times over the last three years to bolster the forestry industry.

Hampton was responding to a statement made yesterday by Natural Resources Minister Donna Cansfield that she didn’t have a “magic wand” that would fix the crisis affecting the forestry industry.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton says Northern Ontario forest industry communities need hydro rate reductions now to sustain jobs and avoid more layoffs in the forest sector.

More than 2000 forest sector workers, across Northern Ontario, have lost their jobs since the October provincial election.

Beaches-East York NDP MPP Michael Prue today announced that he is lobbying NDP Leader Howard Hampton and his colleagues in the NDP caucus to be named the NDP’s new natural resources critic.

“Unlike the new minister of natural resources, I actually have some experience with the North. I mean, I go fishing with Gilles Bisson every year in Northern Ontario. I even put my own worm on the hook. I wouldn’t even need to hire a high-priced handler to do that,” Prue said.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton called for immediate action to address the plight of the community of Ignace as a result of the closure of the Ignace Sawmill and closure of the Bowater Ignace Woodlands.

“The Town of Ignace, a town of 1500 people in Northwestern Ontario, has recently lost its sawmill as a direct result of the McGuinty Liberals’ softwood lumber sellout,” Hampton said. “Because of the McGuinty Liberals’ policy of driving hydro rates through the roof, the pulp and paper and sawmill industry in the Thunder Bay region has been devastated and the Ignace Woodlands are being shut down.”

NDP Leader Howard Hampton called on the Minister of Natural Resources to ensure that local media in Northern Ontario are effectively notified about changes in the forest fire situation.

Sootoday.com reported today that the Ministry of Natural Resources East Fire Communications no longer sends out regular email updates on the fire situation. Instead media outlets are told to monitor the Ministry’s Forest and Aviation Web Site for updated information on forest fires.