Hey Dalton, where are those jobs you promised?

NEWS RELEASE

NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF ONTARIO

************************* Horwath to McGuinty: Keep Northern jobs promises

QUEEN’S PARK - NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is demanding Premier Dalton McGuinty keep his promises on job protection and creation in Northern Ontario.

“Northern Ontario has lost thousands of good-paying value-added jobs,” said Horwath during today’s Question Period, slamming the McGuinty Liberals for being oblivious to the crisis.

“Five years ago, the government promised to reverse that trend with $500-million in forestry sector assistance,” she reminded McGuinty.

But a freedom-of-information request made by the NDP shows that almost half of that money sits unused.

“Why on earth have hundreds of millions of dollars meant to create and protect Northern jobs been left sitting unused in a government bank account?” she asked.

Referencing her Northern Ontario tour last week which brought her to hard-hit forestry towns like Marathon, Horwath noted that that jobs crisis is growing.

“Resources are being extracted but the processing jobs are disappearing. From Xstrata in Timmins, to the pulp and paper mills that dot Northern Ontario, opportunities for good-paying jobs are fewer and fewer,” she said.

“The premier keeps making promises to protect these jobs. When will he finally start providing Northerners with the tools to do just that?”

*************************