A budget of smoke, mirrors and spin won’t protect Ontario jobs in the tariff wars: CUPE Ontario

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The province’s largest union condemned the failure of the Ford Conservatives’ budget to meet Ontarians’ needs with a dramatic expansion of public services that would build communities, create jobs and improve lives.

“Doug Ford still masquerades as Captain Canada. But as far as Ontarians are concerned, ‘elbows up’ should be about public services, the opportunities they provide and the jobs they create,” said Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario. The union represents 290,000 public sector workers in the province.

A recent public opinion poll commissioned by CUPE Ontario showed that Ontarians wanted more funding for public services, an end to health-care privatization, higher corporate taxes to fund vital services, and more job creation through expanded public services.

“To meet the challenges of layoffs, tariffs, and trade wars, the Ford Conservatives have relegated their job creation to tax credits for manufacturers, WSIB rebates for employers, special economic zones, the second-lowest corporate tax rates in the country, and ever-growing contingency and reserve funds.

“But not one of these measures guarantees that a single job will be created. In fact, time after time we’ve seen business spend this kind of no-strings-attached largesse from government on executive bonuses, stock buybacks and higher dividends for shareholders. And for every 1 per cent drop in the corporate tax rate, the government has $1.9 billion less to spend on services.”

Hahn compared this “vision board” approach from the Ford Conservatives to the benefits of investment in public services: “The only way for the government to guarantee a job is created is to create one in the public sector. And because the public sector has been starved for years, the need – and the funding – is there.

“This budget follows the pattern the Conservatives have used for years, where they hoard money in contingency funds. But that’s not spending, it’s not job creation, and it’s not good economic planning.”

One in five workers in Ontario works in a public sector job; the number increases to one in four when federal public service and municipal jobs are included in the count.

“Like every other budget the Ford government has produced, this one is smoke, mirrors and spin. Only this time it’s using the cover of tariffs and trade wars to cover its unwillingness to invest in the things that make life better and more affordable for Ontarians – schools, hospitals, health care, social services, university, stronger municipalities,” said Hahn.

“For the past seven years, we’ve been hearing the same thing – there’s record spending, we’re freeing up the economy, life is good. But we talk to each other and to our friends, and families, we know life isn’t good, it’s deteriorating, and people know their public services are getting worse.”

Hahn pointed to indicators, like the fact that 1 in every 16 people rely on food banks in Ontario, or 1 in 7 don’t have a family doctor, or hospitals are closing down emergency rooms in record numbers.

“This budget was the Ford government’s opportunity to make life better for workers, and they singularly failed in that task. People in Ontario need jobs now; the government has the power to create them. It just needs the will.”