Progessive Conservative leader Tim Hudak believes right-to-work laws have taken jobs from Canada. (Canadian Press file photo)

Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak believes the provincial government has only provided the auto industry short-term assistance.

More, he said, needs to be done to sustain and grow Ontario's manufacturing sector.

"I just don't know if the approach that we've taken the last number of years - of borrowing more money and running up our debt to try to throw out a few life preservers to companies - that's not a long-term strategy," Hudak said. "We can turn this around.

While the other parties seem to think manufacturing is a thing of the past, those jobs will never come back, I believe we have a bright future for manufacturing if we make the right choices around our energy policy, our tax policy, our rules and regulation, our labour laws."

Hudak made the comments at an appearance Thursday night in Essex, where he spoke to approximately 50 supporters.

He also said he supports what Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has done in approving right-to-work legislation.

Hudak claimed General Motors moves its Camaro production to Lansing, Mich., because of right-to-work laws. He also claimed Indiana, another state with similar laws, has, "attracted 100 new companies as a result, including Toyota and Amazon."

"What people often lose track of, too, is that it's not just the States. In the United Kingdom, most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, they allow workers to choose whether they want to be in a union or not," Hudak said. "We have got to compete against those countries."