NDP efforts to protect Northern jobs thwarted in parliament

News Release
NDP

QUEEN’S PARK - NDP Leader Howard Hampton says McGuinty Liberals have let down working families by voting down an NDP Opposition Day Motion that called for action to keep good-paying manufacturing and resource jobs in Ontario.
McGuinty Liberal MPPs voted down the key recommendation of the NDP’s Job Protection Act - the creation of a Job Protection Commissioner to help at-risk companies reposition themselves when faced with bankruptcy and shutting down. They also voted down the creation of a reasonable hydro policy to sustain jobs. The final vote was 38-14, with Liberals voting against the motion and New Democrats and Progressive Conservative MPP voting in favour of the motion.
“During elections, politicians always talk about how they’re on the side of working people. Today, McGuinty Liberals had a chance to stand up and be counted. But tonight, they put their partisan interests ahead of the public interest and voted down a motion that would have helped keep good-paying manufacturing and resource jobs here in Ontario,” Hampton said.
The NDP Opposition Day motion read as follows:
“That the Legislative Assembly of Ontario recognize that manufacturing and resource jobs have formed the economic foundation of prosperity and economic security for Ontario’s working families for more than a century;
“That failed provincial policies are causing that foundation to crumble;
“That those failed policies have led to a recession in Ontario’s manufacturing and forestry sectors and caused great hardship for Ontario’s working families;
“That decisive action must be taken now to keep good-paying manufacturing and forestry jobs in Ontario; and
“That the Legislative Assembly of Ontario call upon the Ontario government to take immediate action to sustain jobs by providing greater institutional support to manufacturing and resource workers whose workplaces are threatened, starting with a reasonable hydro policy that can sustain jobs and the creation of a Job Protection Commissioner for Ontario - as recommended by the NDP Job Protection Act.”
“McGuinty Liberals owe working families an explanation. After presiding over the loss of 136,000 manufacturing and resource sector jobs, how could Liberals vote against keeping good-paying jobs in Ontario?” Hampton asked.