Speaking in the shadow of a failing Ford auto plant, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath vowed to create an independent jobs commissioner who'd try to salvage employment and economic opportunities in communities hit by mass layoffs.
But she isn't sure how anyone would have been able to save this plant, or how an additional position would stanch hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs elsewhere in the province.
“We just assume a company's going to make their decision. We throw up our hands and say, 'There's nothing we can do about it.' I don't think that's true,” she said. “We need to make sure there's someone at the table, bringing together the various interests in a plant closure or a shutdown.”
The commissioner’s primary role would be as a mediator, Ms. Horwath said, negotiating with all parties to try to “stop the bleed of jobs” from an area, either by keeping a plant in place that would otherwise close, or otherwise find alternatives. It's modelled after British Columbia's Resources Jobs Commissioner – a now-defunct position that's credited with saving factories threatened with closing in the mid-1990s, largely by lining up training opportunities and arranging for the purchase and restructuring of plants in peril.
“Access to capital is perhaps an issue. Perhaps there's a lead company saying, ‘We don't need this branch any more.’ Perhaps there's management saying, ‘We can't make it work any more financially.’ ... We're saying, ‘Let's bring in somebody independent who can pull some of the levers and work ... to bring some solutions.’”
To make its point, the NDP brought in two men working at the plant now, Kelly Newman and Shane MacPherson. Both have been working there for years and in Mr. MacPherson's case, his wife is also a Ford employee. Both of them are convinced the government should be doing more to help cushion the shock of mass layoffs. But neither of them is sure what a jobs commissioner would have been able to do to keep the factory open.
The Ford plant's 1,200 remaining workers are out of jobs this week. While Southwold Township, the local municipality, has been bracing for the economic hit and preparing to hike property taxes to make up for the millions Ford usually pays, social services groups are girding for an onslaught once thousands of severance packages run out.
Ms. Horwath's photo op Wednesday is the latest in a line of events emphasizing her focus on employment. In recession-slammed industrial areas of Southwestern Ontario, especially, she's been using her blue-collar street cred and hammering home her focus on giving businesses tax credits for creating jobs.
“We don't know [how the commissioner would be able to prevent that] because it doesn't exist,” Ms. Horwath said. “We believe someone in that position will have the opportunity to perhaps prevent this. ... It's not enough to say there's nothing we can do, shrug our shoulders and walk away.”
Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty said the last thing a province grappling with a multibillion-dollar deficit should be doing is increasing the size of the public service by creating another level of government bureaucracy.
If Ms. Horwath were committed to creating jobs, he said, she would abandon her plan to roll back corporate tax cuts introduced by the Liberals.
“She’s talking about $9-billion [in] crushing, job-killing taxes,” he told reporters in Ottawa, following a speech to a business group.
And taking a swipe at the NDP’s environmental policies under Ms. Horwath, Mr. McGuinty said she should support his plan to create clean energy jobs.
“It’s a great combination I would have thought for the NDP, because it’s good for the economy. It’s good for the environment too,” he said.
