‹ Platform

Good jobs that pay the bills

BETTER WORK

The cost of everything continues to rise in Ontario, yet people’s salaries and wages are stagnating.

Hundreds of thousands of Ontarians rely on minimum wage jobs to make ends meet, including essential workers such as grocery clerks and PSWs that keep our province running.

Many Ontarians, especially younger workers, rely on temporary gigs or freelancing to make ends meet. These jobs are more precarious, less secure, and pay less than traditional work – temp workers are more than 200 per cent more likely to be killed or injured on the job and are often left without benefits, making them vulnerable to predatory employment practices.

Instead of helping working people, Doug Ford froze minimum wage for almost three years, costing a full-time worker almost $6,000. He undermined labour laws and attacked workers. He cut paid sick days then excluded gig and contract workers from his inadequate paid sick days scheme during the pandemic.

Andrea Horwath and the NDP believe an employee is an employee no matter where they work, and that every worker deserves the same rights and protections. New Democrats have a strong plan to fix how workers are treated and compensated, and we’ll guarantee jobs with better pay, benefits and security.

COMMITMENT

Raise the minimum wage to $20 in 2026, with stable, predictable $1-an-hour increases annually. To help small businesses achieve this, New Democrats will bring in targeted supports for those that need help increasing wages as our economy is rebuilt.

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Legislate 10 permanent personal emergency leavedays for all workers, so they can stay home if they are sick or are caring for a sick child. We’ll work with businesses to ensure they have predictability and the support they need as we make this transition.

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Ontario Benefits: Create Ontario Benefits to cover all workers including those in part-time, casual, app- based, or contract jobs. We’ll work to provide to all workers a basket of benefits - including dental care and vision coverage - that meet a standard of quality coverage. Our model will see benefits that follow the person, not the job.

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Enforcing and strengthening employment law. We will enforce the Employment Standards Act and strengthen the act to ensure workers cannot be fired without cause.

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Remove barriers to joining a union: We’ll make it so that any workplace can unionize when 55 per cent of workers sign a card stating they want to join a union. We’ll introduce first-contract arbitration to make it faster and smoother to negotiate a fair first contract. We’ll immediately put an end to contract flipping, an unfair practice where private contracts for services are turned over to the lowest bidder, and workers are laid off only to be rehired again with lower wages and fewer benefits.

COMMITMENT

Fair treatment for temp and gig workers: We’ll prevent gig and contract workers from being misclassified as independent contractors when they are actually employees. Any worker doing the same job as the worker next to them will get the same wage, protections and benefits, whether they’re part-time, temporary, or contract. After a standard probation period, anyone hired through a temp agency will be considered an employee of the client company. We’ll hold the companies that use temp agencies responsible for their health and safety at work.

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Look at new ways of working. We will enact the NDP’s Four Day Work Week Act, first introduced in 2021. The Bill would implement a four-day work week pilot project in Ontario, to be established for one year for a section of the province’s workers.

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Preventing strike violence: We will enact “anti-scab” legislation and other measures to encourage swift resolution of workplace job actions.

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Fix the WSIB to ensure it’s for workers, not big corporations: We’ll repeal section 6 of Bill 27, Doug Ford’s so-called Working for Workers Act, ensuring surpluses are used towards clearing the backlog of claims and helping injured workers.

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We’ll proactively enforce health and safety and increase the number of jobs covered under Employment Standards and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act.

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End deeming: We will stop the WSIB from deeming workers to have jobs that don’t exist and then cutting their benefits.

CREATING MORE GOOD JOBS IN EVERY REGION

The world of work is changing, and Ontarians must be set up to succeed now and in the future.

Doug Ford abolished the College of Trades with little thought to what could replace it and opposed all efforts to help prepare Ontario for a low-carbon future, with good-paying jobs in the green economy.

New Democrats understand that Ontario can’t prosper unless we have a strong and skilled workforce.

An Ontario NDP government will make job training accessible province-wide by bringing job training opportunities to places where Ontarians actually live and create new opportunities in every region.

Our Green New Democratic Deal includes a plan to revitalize Ontario’s economy while addressing the climate crisis and racial inequity. Our detailed plan will shift Ontario to net-zero emissions and transition to cleaner forms of energy while working with business to create over a million good jobs that people can raise a family on and build a future.

COMMITMENT

More high school trades and shop classes: We’ll promote the value of trades in schools and work with tradespeople, employers, and educational institutions to create new opportunities for education and apprenticeships – including working with school boards to expand opportunities for hands-on learning and shop classes.

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Ensure that experienced tradespeople and workers hold a majority on the Board of the new Skilled Trades Ontarioto draw upon the trade- specific expertise among workers and employer representatives. We’ll ensure active participation of tradespeople in advisory boards of Skilled Trades Ontario, as was done successfully with previous individual trades boards.

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More trades training in Northern Ontario, including community-run employment and training centres: We’ll work with colleges, unions and training institutes in Northern Ontario to expand trades training, with support for community-run employment and training centres.

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Thousands of new jobs with green job certification:Our training plan will help workers succeed in a low-carbon future. We will work with universities, colleges, unions and employers to fast- track workers with industry experience and provide tuition grants for programs geared toward expanding the net-zero economy.

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Recruit and train people from equity deserving communities: We’ll leave no one behind, developing specialized recruitment and retraining programs for youth and equity deserving communities, and lifting up those typically excluded from skilled trades, including women, racialized people, and Indigenous Indigenous Peoples.

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Ontario’s first cleantech bank funded by the proceeds of cap-and-trade: We’ll partner with the Ontario Clean Technology Industry Association (OCTIA), universities, colleges, municipalities, First Nations, and innovative companies to export and adopt products and ideas that will lower our emissions, increase equity, and generate job and GDP growth in Ontario.

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Energy retrofit program that creates 100,000 good jobs:We’ll retrofit at least five per cent of Ontario’s buildings per year to save money, cut emissions, and create new jobs.

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Create a single window for retrofit program financing and planning: This will include upfront financing, to ensure our retrofit program is accessible.

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Ensure Ontario’s transit investments are used to create good jobs: We will restore and uphold Canadian content provisions for provincially funded transit vehicle procurement.

MANUFACTURING

Manufacturing is the backbone of the Ontario economy, offering good, unionized jobs you can raise a family on. As Ontario moves to a net-zero future, there will be exciting new opportunities to grow green manufacturing and create more jobs across the province.

For years, the Liberals ignored the manufacturing sector. Doug Ford and the Conservatives have made things worse. They’ve left manufacturing behind and have no plan to encourage innovation and transition to a green economy.

New Democrats understand how important manufacturing is to Ontario. Our plan will establish a manufacturing strategy to protect workers in the sector and ensure they have the conditions and supports to thrive.

COMMITMENT

Manufacturing strategy: We’ll retain good jobs, bring in accelerated depreciation for certain plant and equipment upgrades and invest a share of cap- and-trade revenue in programs and technology that help energy-intensive and trade-exposed industries compete and adapt to the products our new economy needs.

COMMITMENT

Labour Force Strategy: Work with manufacturers to bring in a labour force strategy. We’ll find workers to fill vacancies and provide appropriate training to the workers of tomorrow.

BUY ONTARIO FOR ONTARIO, HELP COMMUNITIES BENEFIT

Ontario workers make some of the best products in the world. Hundreds of thousands of families rely on the jobs that make these products here in Ontario.

Doug Ford told workers he would protect jobs in Ontario, but he removed requirements that ensure billions of dollars in new transit contracts go to Canadian workers.

New Democrats believe that rather than send public money and jobs overseas, governments should reinvest tax dollars back into Ontario communities. We will create and protect Ontario jobs and build prosperity by supporting made-in-Ontario products from small and medium-sized businesses and manufacturers, and supporting a strong local supply chain. We’ll make sure communities, especially those that have often lost out, benefit from large infrastructure projects.

COMMITMENT

Buy Ontario through government procurement: We’ll engage in strategic government procurement from small and medium-sized businesses and non-profits. We’ll ensure that our small businesses can compete with big industry and use taxpayer dollars to invest in good jobs right here in Ontario. Our Buy Ontario program will also include a social procurement policy to support diverse vendors.

COMMITMENT

Buy Ontario: We will remove Doug Ford’s secret cut to Canadian content rules for transit projects and stop sending jobs overseas. We will ensure that public money is used in Ontario to create and protect good jobs.

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Ensure your community benefits from infrastructure projects: We will require that future contracts for major infrastructure projects contain provisions for mitigating the impact of construction on small businesses, and create local jobs and apprenticeship opportunities.

REVITALIZING MAIN STREET

Small businesses are the heart of our communities. They keep Ontarians employed, make our neighbourhoods vibrant, and deliver the essential goods and services that keep Ontario running.

But the last two years have been incredibly hard on small businesses, and they got little support from Doug Ford’s Conservative government.

During the pandemic, Ford sat on billions of dollars in COVID relief funding, refused to ban commercial evictions, and his insufficient, poorly run relief program for businesses left many waiting for months, or denied applicants arbitrarily. When the pandemic was at its peak, Ford listened to his lobbyist buddies and conservative insiders and chose to open big box stores over small businesses instead of providing the resources and guidance to allow them to open safely.

The Ontario NDP has fought for Main Street throughout the pandemic, and we have a solid plan to make sure our small and medium-sized businesses recover stronger than ever.

COMMITMENT

Small Business Recovery Grant: We will bring in two rounds of the Small Business Recovery Grant, with one payment in 2022 and another in 2023. We’ll ensure that, unlike under Ford, our program is responsive to business owners, and payments are disbursed in a timely manner.

COMMITMENT

Launch a COVID-19 emergency business fund for Black-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs and others who have faced systemic barriers to accessing capital, such as women and people with disabilities. We’ll simplify access to support programs, providing reliable help so all Ontario communities have equitable resources to succeed.

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We will work with the small business community to develop and deliver the supports they need to recover and create good-paying jobs.

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Commercial Insurance: We will work with business organizations and the insurance industry to ensure that commercial insurance is affordable for small businesses.

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Commercial Tenancies: We will work with the business community to review the Commercial Tenancies Act, standardize commercial lease agreements, and explore the creation of rent guidelines for small businesses.

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Succession Planning: We know that over the next decade, seven in 10 business owners plan to sell or pass on their business. The Ontario NDP will work with the federal government to allow small business owners to form employee ownership trusts and put in place incentives for the creation of trusts and employee-owned co-operatives. This will support succession planning, protect local jobs and reduce income inequality, allowing employees to have a share in the success of their businesses.

SUPPORT FOR NON-PROFITS

During the pandemic, non-profits stepped up to deliver critically needed programs and services for Ontarians. However, many have not been eligible for the same supports as small businesses. Andrea and the NDP team understand how important non-profits are to our communities. We’ll ensure that they have the supports they need to get back on their feet.

COMMITMENT

Financial support: To support their recovery and protect the sector, an Ontario NDP government will provide financial support to non-profits and charities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, so they can reinvest in their mission and their workforce.

COMMITMENT

Extend government-funded business investment programs and initiativeslike Digital Main Street to the sector, to help non-profits, charities and the cooperative sector recover and thrive.

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Volunteer recovery strategy: Work with the sector to develop a provincial volunteer recovery strategy, helping organizations bring back personnel and execute their mission.

SUPPORTING INNOVATION

Ontario is home to a highly skilled workforce and world-class research facilities.

Doug Ford has cut Ontario research budgets, from stem cell research to artificial intelligence. Just as other jurisdictions are scaling up innovation to transition to a net-zero future, the Ford Conservatives cancelled renewable energy projects and ripped electric vehicle charging stations out of the ground.

An Ontario NDP government will foster innovation here in Ontario and build good jobs while revitalizing our economy for a net-zero future.

COMMITMENT

Build innovation hubs in areas with untapped potential:We’ll bring together small and medium- sized businesses, startups, universities, colleges and research centres, investors, and workers to collaborate on areas of expertise. Innovation hubs will be based on public leadership and built on private-sector investment, capacity, knowledge and innovation, and will play a critical role in ensuring that Ontario secures the good green jobs of tomorrow.

AN AUTO STRATEGY FOR TODAY AND THE FUTURE

For more than 100 years, the automotive sector has been an engine of Ontario’s economy. It has created good jobs that allowed people to raise their families and build strong communities. Unions have worked with the auto industry to prepare for the future but have not had a reliable partner at Queen’s Park. The sector’s decline in recent years has hit communities that rely on the industry with shift cancellations and job losses. It has been devastating for communities across the province.

Liberal and Conservative governments have simply turned their backs on the auto sector and the many workers relying on it. Doug Ford cancelled important incentives for electric vehicles, dragging Ontario backwards and costing taxpayers money.

New Democrats believe government has a proactive role to play in the future of auto assembly and parts manufacturing in Ontario. We see a bright future that will secure jobs for the long haul as well as meet ambitious climate change targets.

COMMITMENT

Create Ontario’s first comprehensive Zero- Emissions Vehicles (ZEVs) Strategy: We’ll support the auto sector to shift its production to ZEVs, with the goal of ramping up electric vehicle sales to 100 per cent of all new provincial auto sales by 2035. This strategy will take a total supply chain approach, with parts and manufacturing happening right here in Ontario. We’ll put in place policies to help increase the purchase of ZEVs, and transition the provincial government’s fleet of vehicles to all-Canadian-made electric vehicles by 2030. We’ll focus on putting Ontario’s highly-skilled and experienced auto workers back to work, with jobs that are stable and unionized.

COMMITMENT

Incentives and charging stations for ZEVs: To help Ontarians make the switch to a ZEV, a New Democrat government will build out a network of charging stations across Ontario, and offer strong incentives of up to $10,000 to Ontarians who purchase ZEVs, excluding luxury vehicles, with a particular focus on those made in Ontario.

CREATING MORE JOBS AND HIRING MORE FRONTLINE WORKERS THAT CARE

People are at the heart of delivering essential health care, and care to our most vulnerable, including seniors and young children. Frontline care workers are disproportionately women, people from racialized communities, and recent immigrants to Canada. Their work is underpaid and often undervalued.

For decades, Liberal and Conservative governments cut and underfunded health care, elder care and child care, and disrespected the hardworking workers who make up these sectors. Both before and during the pandemic, Doug Ford failed frontline workers: he refused to bring in paid sick leave, left long-term care homes woefully understaffed, and cancelled a minimum wage increase that would have helped deliver a better wage to these essential workers.

For an Ontario NDP government, care work and the people who deliver it will be a key part of our jobs plan. We’ll make sure these workers are treated with the respect they deserve, with conditions and compensation that reflect the high value of what they do.

Our approach to the caring sector is also outlined in our sections on health care, child care, and seniors care.

SUPPORTING IMMIGRATION AND GROWING OUR SKILLED WORKFORCE

Ontario is home to people from around the world, many of whom come seeking safety, security, and a better life. New Canadians make our province great. But too often they are denied the supports they need.

Liberal and Conservative governments have broken Ontario’s international credential system, with skilled workers in Ontario routinely denied a chance to work in their field.

Internationally trained health care workers were forced to watch from the sidelines as the pandemic steamrolled Ontario’s hospital and long-term care systems.

An Ontario NDP government has a concrete, actionable plan to grow our skilled workforce – especially in health care – and ensure everyone who comes to Ontario has the chance to thrive.

COMMITMENT

Prioritize a system to recognize the skills and credentials of foreign-educated workers, with a focus on health care:We’ll immediately pass NDP MPP Doly Begum’s Fairness for Ontario’s Internationally Trained Workers Act, which addresses accreditation barriers for internationally trained professionals. We’ll create a job-matching program to guarantee internationally trained physicians get experience in Ontario and make it easier for internationally trained nurses to have their clinical experiences recognized.

COMMITMENT

Create a language access strategy: We’ll consult affected communities to implement this provincewide strategy in our first mandate. We’ll promote awareness of existing language service options through a “language services available here” campaign and proclaim February 22 a Day of Language Access.

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Expand family reunification and expand the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program to attract more skilled immigrants to Ontario.

AGRICULTURE AND AGRI-FOOD

Ontario’s farmers put food on our tables and drive our economy. A strong agricultural sector means a stronger Ontario and strong rural communities, with good roads, schools, health care and off-farm jobs.

The Liberals and Conservatives have failed farmers. Del Duca’s Liberals placed a cap on the Risk Management program. Doug Ford refused to lift the cap, and he’s given favours to his buddies by making it easier for developers to pave over valuable farmland.

The Ontario NDP has a plan to work in partnership with the agricultural community to best support our farmers and protect our vital farmland.

COMMITMENT

Ontario Food Strategy: We’ll work with farmers to put more healthy, locally sourced food onto Ontario tables, and support jobs on farms, in food processing, transportation, biofuel, service and retail.

COMMITMENT

Stop paving over farmland: Once farmland is lost, it is lost forever. We’ll protect farmland. Before a project takes place on agricultural land, it will be subject to a mandatory Agricultural Impact Assessment. The terms and conditions of the process will be developed in partnership with the agricultural community, who know the true value of the land.

COMMITMENT

Lift the cap on Risk Management: We will lift the cap on the Risk Management Program to ensure it provides real protection to farms and farmers.

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Support Supply Management: New Democrats have always stood in support of Supply Management and will continue to do so.

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Young farmer loan guarantee: We’ll help young farm families and first-time farmers get established in agriculture with mentorship, financial advice and loan guarantees.

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Support the Grocery Code of Conduct: Grocery chains exercise a near monopoly and have used that to take advantage of food suppliers. We support the Grocery Code of Conduct to improve transparency and fair dealings in the grocery industry and we will make it a reality.

TOURISM

Tourism is vital to Ontario’s economy. The tourism industry generates tens of billions in economic activity every year, employs hundreds of thousands of Ontarians, and is a vital part of regional economies across the province.

The Ford government refused to give Ontario’s tourism workers and operators the help they needed to weather the crushing impacts of the pandemic, until for many, it was too late. In particular, small and independent operators were not consulted, and excluded from multiple rounds of funding by the Conservative government.

An Ontario NDP government has a strong plan to revitalize tourism in Ontario and address the massive labour shortages in the industry. We’ll partner with the industry to advertise the unique tourism experiences Ontario has to offer. We’ll ensure that small, local, tourism operators have a seat at the table.

COMMITMENT

Provide a second round of the Tourism Recovery Program to help businesses recover and hire staff.

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Extend the Staycation Tax Credit:We’ll encourage Ontarians to travel within the province and support local tourism by extending the Staycation Tax Credit for another two years. We will evaluate the success of the program at that point and decide whether to make it permanent.

COMMITMENT

Launch a Tourism Workforce Strategy in partnership with tourism operators, workers, and post-secondary institutions, to ensure the sector’s labour shortage is addressed.

ARTS, CULTURE, MEDIA AND HERITAGE

Strong arts, culture, heritage, and media industries are integral to creating jobs and ensuring the diversity of Ontarians’ stories get told. The arts, culture, and media sectors were hit hard during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially artists, performers, and cultural workers from priority, equity-seeking groups.

The Ford Conservatives have made deep cuts to these industries. Doug Ford slashed funding to the Ontario Arts Council and eliminated the Indigenous Culture Fund.

An Ontario NDP government has a plan to ensure our arts, culture, heritage, and media industries get back on track and thrive now and into the future, with restored funding and direct supports for organizations and workers.

COMMITMENT

We’ll create a Provincial Arts Strategythat centres artists and supports arts, culture, and heritage community-based institutions committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, assessing needs through measurable outcomes.

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Increase funding to the Ontario Arts Council: We’ll support new and experienced Ontario artists by restoring and providing additional funding to the grant program.

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Restore the Indigenous Culture Fund: We’ll bring back this vital program, which supports First Nations, Inuit and Métis community-based and cultural projects, creates jobs for Indigenous people.

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Film and TV tax credits: Ensure that Ontario continues to succeed in the screen-based industry by providing competitive tax credits, strong support for cutting-edge production facilities, and a plan to bring these jobs to more communities, including in Northern Ontario. We will work with the industry to improve the effectiveness of tax credits overall.

COMMITMENT

Improve the Ontario Computer Animation and Special Effects Tax Credit: We’ll help workers and studios succeed by simplifying this tax credit and untethering it from the umbrella of tax credits it currently belongs to.

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Increase festival fundingand work closely with performing artists and cultural workers to develop a recovery plan that gets the sector back on track.

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Increase funding for the Community Museum Operating Grant and review the outdated funding model for museums.

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Increase provincial funding for brick-and-mortar libraries and digital library services, recognizing the vital role local public libraries play in our communities.

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Prioritize Ontario’s authors and publishers in school curricula to help promote local writers and bolster Ontario’s publishing industry.

RESPONSIBLE MINING

Ontario is home to one of the largest supplies of critical minerals in the world, making it key to our economy, with enormous potential to grow and deliver prosperity to Northern communities, and leverage good-paying jobs and opportunities across Ontario. Our extensive supplies of critical minerals can help us transition to a net-zero future. The Ontario NDP believes we can build on our province’s strong environmental and safety standards to attract global investment in our mining sector while protecting our environment and strengthening local communities.

The Ford government has failed to provide the mining industry with the regulatory and energy cost stability it needs and has left significant gaps in the workforce unfilled.

New Democrats have a plan to work with unions and the mining industry to develop stable energy prices, create long-term prosperity for communities in Northern Ontario and accelerate our transition to a green economy.

COMMITMENT

We will allocate investments from the Green New Democratic Deal to mining-related green innovation initiativesand work with the mining sector to best deliver stable energy prices.

COMMITMENT

Consult with the mining sector to improve the regulatory regime and discover more opportunities to improve environmental management.

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Encourage people to pursue careers in mining: We’ll create education and career pathways in partnership with postsecondary institutions and industry.

FORESTRY

Ontario’s forestry sector is a key economic driver and source of good jobs. Healthy, responsibly managed forests reduce emissions, and a responsible, well- managed forestry industry is vital to building a green economy. Forests can yield materials that will help retrofit our existing public, residential, and commercial buildings to be more energy efficient, and ensure new buildings meet international energy efficiency standards, as promised in our Green New Democratic Deal.

Doug Ford broke his promise to implement a provincial Forest Strategy, neglecting the sector and letting workers down.

COMMITMENT

Implement an Ontario Forest Strategy in consultation with the forestry industry, to preserve local jobs and support the sector’s transition to a low-carbon economy.

COMMITMENT

Increase support for the Forest Access Roads Funding Programto create good jobs and build more and better roads for communities in the North.

DEVELOPING THE RING OF FIRE

For many Ontario communities – especially in the North – sustainable resource development is necessary for economic stability and a pathway to prosperity and growth. It is an integral part of people’s lives. If managed well, resource development can be a sustainable way to generate strong, future-proof jobs, and a means of tackling a broad spectrum of inequality in Ontario.

For decades, successive Conservative and Liberal governments have led Northerners to believe that new, long-term, stable jobs are just around the corner. These governments have strung along Northern communities, industry investors, management, and unions with empty promises. Doug Ford’s empty bluster failed to deliver any progress on the Ring of Fire. Because of Ford’s inaction, the project is further away than ever.

The Ontario NDP knows that the key to building a responsible, sustainable future for resource development in Ontario is consulting and working alongside First Nations, mining and exploration companies, refiners and Northerners. Developing the Ring of Fire is a tremendous opportunity if we get it right, and that means enacting our duty to consult with First Nations and engaging in sound environmental management. We are committed to doing so, and will move forward clearly and transparently with all stakeholders and First Nations.

COMMITMENT

We’ll get the Ring of Fire project moving, the right way: with full transparency, community benefit agreements to guarantee jobs for Indigenous people, and proper environmental assessment. We’ll progress in full partnership with First Nations.

COMMITMENT

Fair community benefit agreements, as well as proper environmental assessments, must accompany development, and are key to project success.

COMMITMENT

Ensure that all mining tax revenue goes right back to the Indigenous communities of the North.