May 8th, 2015

Windsor unemployment climbs as Wynne Liberals make life more unaffordable: NDP

QUEEN’S PARK – The Liberals are failing Windsor says Taras Natyshak, NDP Economic Development and Employment Critic, and MPP for Essex. Newly released jobs numbers from Statistics Canada show unemployment has climbed to 11.5%, the highest in Canada, and Natyshak says this shows that Kathleen Wynne is more focused on ramming through a budget full of privatization and cuts than she is in creating jobs or listening to people.

“More than 20,000 people are looking for work in our community, wondering how they’ll pay the bills. We should be focused on making life easier, but Kathleen Wynne is making life tougher,” said Natyshak. “Instead of a plan to help families, and create jobs, the Premier is ramming through a plan for privatizing Hydro One that is going to make rates sky-rocket – it’s going to be bad for businesses and bad for families”.

Businesses across Ontario say that high energy prices stifle growth and put the brakes on job creation. Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters has regularly noted that high energy costs can limit the ability of businesses to hire, while the Association of Major Power Consumers has noted that energy rates in Ontario are double those in neighbouring jurisdictions like Quebec, Manitoba and Michigan (http://bit.ly/1GTwm1I). 

“Kathleen Wynne is privatizing Hydro One. That’s going to make energy rates increase even faster in Ontario, and that’s going to hurt jobs in Windsor and Essex. The Liberals didn’t run on this plan, and now they’re refusing to hear input from businesses and families that will pay the price,” continued Natyshak. “This plan is going to hurt job creators. People in Windsor don’t want to pay the price for a wrong-headed, job-killing choice from the Liberals.”

Natyshak, along with Percy Hatfield (MPP, Windsor-Tecumseh) and Lisa Gretzky (MPP, Windsor West) have repeatedly called on the Liberals to create a comprehensive automotive and manufacturing strategy, and have noted that affordable hydro rates are important to the sector.