Tough new measures would be implemented to protect workers facing layoffs in Ontario, NDP Leader Howard Hampton vowed Friday.
Speaking across the road from the now-closed BF Goodrich plant in Kitchener, Hampton accused Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty of acting in the interests of global corporations instead of Ontario communities and workers.
'In Dalton McGuinty's Ontario, it is just too easy to close a plant or a mill.'— NDP Leader Howard Hampton
"We shouldn't be known as one of the jurisdictions where it's quickest, easiest and cheapest to lay off workers," Hampton said, noting BF Goodrich is a profitable company that has other plants operating in Quebec, the U.S. and Mexico.
"In Dalton McGuinty's Ontario, it is just too easy to close a plant or a mill."
Hampton proposes longer layoff notice periods and mandatory job adjustment committees for mass layoffs of 50 or more jobs, and one-year notice from companies to allow time for the province to intervene and help negotiate a closure agreement.
"In almost every case, companies know well in advance when they might be making decisions like that," Hampton argued. "The one-year notice allows workers, communities and governments to come together to look at alternatives."
NDP would double severance pay
He is also pledging to double severance packages to two weeks pay for every year worked and to remove the 26-week severance cap.
"These provisions exist in many other jurisdictions," Hampton said.
Hampton again accused McGuinty of inaction, saying jobs are worth fighting for.
"When you see the premier of Newfoundland going to global corporations and saying to them, `I'm here to fight for workers and working families in Newfoundland,' I say where's Dalton McGuinty been?"
Hampton met with workers in Kitchener this morning, an area that has lost 6,900 manufacturing jobs in recent years, most of them since 2003.
Another plant owned by cash-register company NCR Canada Ltd. is slated to close in early November, putting 450 more people out of work.
Many of the affected workers have been forced to take lower-paying jobs with temp agencies, said Kitchener Centre NDP candidate Rick Moffatt.
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Ontario Votes 2007 »
- McGuinty wins massive majority, Tory loses seat
- Dalton McGuinty won a second majority government for the Liberals in Ontario on Wednesday night, a triumph for a party that earlier expressed fears of a drop to minority status.
- Ontario rejects electoral reform in referendum
- Ontario voters have rejected a proposed electoral reform that would have seen some provincial legislators chosen based on a party's share of the popular vote, results showed Thursday.
- Ontario voter turnout a record low
- The percentage of eligible voters casting ballots in Wednesday's Ontario election hit an all-time low despite changes introduced in an effort to boost turnout.
- Ont. Green party scores 8 per cent of vote
- No Green party candidates made it to the Ontario legislature in Wednesday's election, but that defeat was sweetened by a swell in their share of the popular vote, which more than doubled.
- McGuinty only leader not facing leadership questions
- Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty won re-election in Ottawa South and NDP Leader Howard Hampton again won his northern Ontario riding of Kenora-Rainy River. PC Leader John Tory was defeated.
District Profiles
More Ontario Votes Headlines »
- McGuinty wins massive majority, Tory loses seat
- Dalton McGuinty won a second majority government for the Liberals in Ontario on Wednesday night, a triumph for a party that earlier expressed fears of a drop to minority status.
- Ontario rejects electoral reform in referendum
- Ontario voters have rejected a proposed electoral reform that would have seen some provincial legislators chosen based on a party's share of the popular vote, results showed Thursday.
- Ontario voter turnout a record low
- The percentage of eligible voters casting ballots in Wednesday's Ontario election hit an all-time low despite changes introduced in an effort to boost turnout.
- Ont. Green party scores 8 per cent of vote
- No Green party candidates made it to the Ontario legislature in Wednesday's election, but that defeat was sweetened by a swell in their share of the popular vote, which more than doubled.
- McGuinty only leader not facing leadership questions
- Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty won re-election in Ottawa South and NDP Leader Howard Hampton again won his northern Ontario riding of Kenora-Rainy River. PC Leader John Tory was defeated.
