News

February 12, 2014

Soon after Queen’s Park resumes on Feb. 18 PC leader Tim Hudak will table his Million Jobs Act, which he called “bold, innovative and aggressive” while speaking to the Ontario Road Builders’ Association’s (ORBA) 87th annual convention recently, according to a report by Kelly Lapoint in Daily Commercial News “Get ready, the special interests will vigorously oppose our plan and our campaign because they know one thing, when I’m elected, things will change...that means more jobs, a better investment climate and more roads will get built. “Lots of roads because Ontario’s future depends upon it.” His Million Jobs Act, introduced in January, includes increasing trade with other provinces, reducing regulatory burden, providing cost-efficient electricity and reducing taxes on employers to facilitate job creation. Part of the plan includes training more skilled workers to meet the demand in the trades, which he says will help young people find good jobs. This also means Hudak will continue his fight against the Ontario College of Trades, which he says only compounds the problem of massive unemployment and a shortage of skilled workers. “Liberal red tape and outdated apprenticeship ratios are keeping young people from joining the trades, joining our economy, so they remain unemployed and we experience a shortage of skilled trades people when we need them, so in this mess nobody wins,” he told the convention. Open tendering is also on the agenda for Hudak, despite the September defeat of Bill 73, the Fair and Open Tendering Act. “It would have restored and preserved the ability of municipalities to openly tender contracts for large infrastructure programs. You know, like I know, that the more expensive infrastructure gets, less of it ends up getting built.” In terms of transportation infrastructure, Hudak said while it is important to build better public transit in large cities, transit is not the whole solution. “Ontario has been, and in my view will always be, a manufacturing and trading province. Manufacturers need roads to move their goods,” he said. “For our plan, it means uploading major highways like the Don Valley Parkway, the Gardiner, the Allen to the provincial level. Highway 174 in Ottawa, and putting that management under one provincial roof so we can improve those roadways.” His plan also includes investing in a mid-peninsula highway to connect Niagara to Highway 403 and then to Highway 401, because it will create good jobs, but also because it will serve as a major artery for trade, tourism and investment. Highway expansions and extensions are keys to get people moving again and Hudak believes in putting transit underground. “I believe without reservation that you don’t get people and goods moving by removing existing car lanes for street level transit...it makes matters worse.” He also said it is important to utilize technology to help control traffic flow and minimize gridlock. The Ontario legislature is expected to begin on Feb. 18 with the minority Liberal government to deliver its budget this spring. It is widely expected that there will be a provincial election this year. SOURCE: Daily Commercial News, Feb 14 2014

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