April 8th, 2016

Wynne Liberals leave Ontario cities with higher unemployment: NDP

NDP Finance Critic Catherine Fife (MPP Kitchener-Waterloo) responded to new jobs numbers released today by Statistics Canada. Fife noted a loss in manufacturing jobs as well as consistently high youth unemployment rates.

“More and more Ontarians are feeling that opportunity just isn’t open to them. They’re finding it tougher to find good work and more and more people feel like they’re being stretched thin. And the Liberal government is doing nothing to help,” said Fife. “Ontarians want to be able to know they can find a job, and when they find that job it will pay the bills. That’s why I’m proud that last week, New Democrats announced we will support a $15 an hour minimum wage in Ontario.”

Eight Ontario cities saw their unemployment rates increase since last month, with Toronto alone losing 11,000 jobs. Young people in Ontario have seen 30,000 jobs disappear over the last year. And of the ten Canadian cities with the highest unemployment, three of those cities are in Ontario.

“Ontario lost  over 9,000 manufacturing jobs last month, and Ontario has the country’s fourth highest youth unemployment rate, and the highest rate outside Atlantic Canada,” continued Fife. “Whether it’s young families who want to save for a home, people struggling to pay bills that keep going up, or people saving for retirement, Ontarians want to see good, full-time work that they can count on. The Liberals called their budget ‘Jobs for Today and Tomorrow,’ but today, there are fewer jobs, and they’ve cut their jobs for tomorrow down by more than 60,000.”