PC Leader John Tory

Tory Wants Action NOW on Job Losses

By Kevin Lajoie
Cornwall Standard-Freeholder

January 5, 2006

Cornwall - Ontario PC Party Leader John Tory is calling on the McGuinty government to come up with an action plan to deal with the job losses in the Cornwall area by the time the legislature returns on Feb. 13.

Saying help is needed now, not in six months, Tory said he will continue to press the governing Liberals to come up with a plan soon to help the families affected by the string of job losses in the area.

Tory said he's pleased a task force has been established to look at the problem of job losses in Cornwall, but that work must turn into action now. The task force, he added, only came to life following repeated calls for action from his party in the legislature. "The task force is only positive if it produces results," he said following a roundtable meeting with roughly 15 civic and business leaders Thursday at the Cornwall Civic Complex.

Meanwhile, local MPP Jim Brownell announced Thursday some "first steps" his government is taking to help workers displaced by recent layoffs. The steps, which resulted from requests made by the city to provincial officials, is the "first taste" of the assistance that will be coming from the province, Brownell suggested. The steps include providing job training and counselling for displaced Domtar workers; funding a full-time coordinator to manage community support systems such as family counselling; working with the city to develop a new Economic Development and Marketing Strategy; and hiring staff for the local business enterprise centre to help small business.

Tory said the main message to come out of his meeting with local leaders was the need for a clear deadline for the provincial government to come back with steps it could take to help the Cornwall area rebound from the recent blows to the manufacturing sector. Tory said there are a number of ways the province could help Cornwall, and many of them were discussed during the closed-door meeting. They included retraining workers, moving the local hospital restructuring project ahead, expanding Highway 138, working on waterfront development and tourism, getting the ethanol plant up and running and capitalizing on brownfield redevelopment. A fairer funding deal for the RH Saunders Generating Station is another long-standing issue with the province, and Tory said there should be a renegotiation for the facility. The key is to deal with the issue quickly so the city could use any additional funding under a new deal to help cushion the blow of the coming Domtar closure, he said. Currently, the city receives an annual payment-in-lieu of taxes of about $229,726 for the power dam despite its assessment being in the range of $96 million. If the facility were to pay taxes based on assessment,the city would be receiving roughly $7 million a year.

Mayor Phil Poirier said he was pleased Tory took the time to visit Cornwall and meet with local officials about issues of concern. "He will be going back (to Queen's Park) to ask the questions about deliverables and timeframes," he said.

Following the roundtable meeting, Tory met with local Conservative party officials and supporters to discuss economic issues.