For Immediate Release
November 6, 2009

Job losses continue under McGuinty Mismanagement

WOODSTOCK – The McGuinty Government promised in their March 26 budget to create 146,000 new jobs this year.  Seven months, according to Statistics Canada, Ontario has in fact lost 32,000 jobs since that budget was introduced.

“32,000 is not just a number, it is real people across Ontario who are now struggling to pay the mortgage and make ends meet without a job,” said Ernie Hardeman, Oxford MPP. “Dalton McGuinty has taken record economic growth and job creation and turned it into record tax increases, deficits and unemployment.”

Statistics Canada figures released today show Ontario lost an additional 12,000 jobs in October. Ontario’s unemployment rate is now 9.3% compared to a national rate of 8.6%.
“The McGuinty government is content to sit back and blame the world economy for

our problems, but all it is doing is driving Ontario further into debt and costing Ontarians jobs,” said Hardeman. “The PC Caucus has identified concrete steps that will bring jobs back to Ontario.”


On October 29, Tim Hudak, leader of the PC Caucus, unveiled a Small Business Jobs Plan. Some of the highlights include:

  • Implementing a one year payroll tax holiday on new hires that will make it more affordable for businesses to hire new staff;
  • Suspending the land-transfer tax for one year, which will make home ownership more affordable for young families – and help create new construction jobs;
  • Reinstating a Red Tape Commission that will eliminate the many unnecessary regulations that punish small businesses; and 
  • Repealing the McGuinty government’s job-killing Bill 119, which forces independent operators and sole proprietors into the WSIB system and requires WSIB coverage for office and secretarial staff who will never set foot on a construction site.   This bill will cost affected small businesses more than $11,000 in additional taxes each year.

 “The McGuinty government cannot sit idly by while Ontarians continue to struggle,” added Hardeman. “They are focused on trying to cover up the latest scandal instead of helping people and businesses across Ontario.”


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For more information, contact:
Ernie Hardeman, MPP Oxford
(416) 325-1239