It’s been barely four months since the provincial election, and one has to wonder why our elected northern Liberal and NDP MPPs are already actively working to squelch massive job creation in northern Ontario and cause more hardship for northerners.

For the record, you may be shocked to learn that the MPP for Sudbury, Rick Bartolucci, voted against removing the provincial portion of the HST off home heating bills, a major issue in the last election, despite the clear will of the majority of members at Queen’s Park.

The Liberals and the NDP, meanwhile, joined forces to vote against the Conservative amendment to the Throne Speech, which would have seen the creation of 200,000 jobs in the skilled trades by changing the badly outdated journeyman-to-apprentice ratio in the province of Ontario, which is creating a bottleneck and is the main reason we are facing a shortage of skilled workers.

All northern Liberal and NDP MPPs voted against this plan that would have created the good-paying trades jobs that are badly needed in the north. Many of these jobs would have been unionized positions and would have helped boost union ranks. It defies reason.

France Gélinas, MPP for Nickel Belt, along with five other northern MPPs, took the easy way out when she failed to attend a vote that would have given municipalities local decision-making powers when it comes to industrial wind turbine developments. She prefers to leave it in the hands of Toronto bureaucrats, instead of northerners.

Let’s ask our Liberal and NDP members why they have chosen to vote against creating high-paying jobs for the north, providing relief for northern families and giving decision-making powers back to northern communities. 

Northerners deserve answers from their MPPs.

Paula Peroni
Past Nickel Belt Progressive Conservative candidate

Posted by Laurel Myers