Fedeli unveils his party’s job creation plan

Today PC candidate for Nipissing Vic Fedeli announced his party’s job creation plan. Vowing to rebuild Ontario’s middle class Fedeli outlined the three pillar approach his party will take to move from a have not province back to the economic engine it once was.

Fedeli says the first approach will be to help business grow by adopting policies that will see a reduction in corporate income taxes and less red tape.

“We will reduce the basic corporate income tax rate to 10%,” he states.

“When Dalton McGuinty took office one of his first tax grabs was to hike taxes on employers – killing countless jobs in the process. We need to reduce business taxes to attract companies to Ontario, encourage investment and create jobs.”

“We will be the best partner small business has ever had.”

“We will end job killing red tape to let business focus on doing what they do best -- sell their product, serve their customers, create jobs … not fill out endless paperwork.”

Under that direction Fedeli says the PCs will produce an energy policy that is an economic policy not a social plan.

“Our energy goal is providing reliable and affordable energy to businesses and families -- not political correctness.”

The second prong in the approach will be to reduce personal income taxes.

“We will give families tax relief by lowering taxes by 5% on the first $75,000 of taxable income.”

“We will change our tax system to allow income sharing. All couples will be allowed to share up to $50,000 of their income for tax purposes.”

And again he committed that the PCs will remove the HST and debt retirement charge from home energy bills. The average savings would translate to $275 in savings per year for a typical family, however, Fedeli introduced a new number of $475 in annual savings for families in Nipissing today because he says the winters are colder and longer.

At the same time the Ontario PCs pledge to make student assistance funding for college and university available to more middle class families. As well as the party will move to allow people receiving welfare and disability support to keep more of their benefits as they transition to part time jobs.

The final prong in the PC policy will be to streamline the process to become a skilled labourer. That means adding 60,000 post-secondary spaces, creating 200,000 apprenticeship spaces, and reducing the journeyman-to-apprentice ratio.

“Ontario is producing 46 percent fewer skilled tradespeople per capita than in the rest of Canada.”

“That’s because in his (McGuinty) apprenticeship system, businesses are required to employ three, four, or five journeymen to train every one apprentice. This is a classic case of red tape that kills jobs.”

“And we will reduce the ratio of journeymen to apprentices to 1:1 -- a single move that will open up thousands of new opportunities for apprentices who want to build their career right here in Ontario.”

Fedeli also pledged that his party would automatically suspend the CAD contract for review.