TORONTO – Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak said Wednesday he would stand by his plans to change Ontario’s labour laws to make union membership optional, while the Liberals claimed many Tories oppose the idea.
Hudak no longer uses the words “right-to-work” to describe his plan, but said a Tory government would make labour laws more flexible to try to stem the flow of job losses, especially in the province’s once mighty manufacturing sector.
Ontario lost hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs under the Liberals, he said, including two out of five manufacturing jobs.
“I’m tired of other countries and states eating our lunch and taking away our manufacturing jobs,” said Hudak. “We need to modernize our laws so we can give more opportunity to young people in this province, and to grow businesses.”
Listen: Bart Maves tells Global News his opinion on right to work legislation.
The Liberals have been holding news conferences to gleefully point out apparent dissension in the Conservative ranks over the right-to-work initiative.
Several Conservative MPPs voted against a 1997 bill that would have made payment of union dues optional, including Bart Maves, who is a Tory candidate in next week’s byelection in Niagara Falls, said Liberal backbencher Steven Del Duca.
“Is Niagara Falls PC candidate Bart Maves one of the many PC candidates who oppose the right-to-work-for-less policy,” asked Del Duca. “It’s also quite clear that Tim Hudak is going further than (former Conservative premier) Mike Harris ever contemplated doing with his right-to-work-for-less scheme.”
The governing Liberals said Hudak’s proposal to make Ontario a so-called “right-to-work” province is so toxic even many Conservatives are afraid it will cost them the next election.
The Liberals said Hudak was recently forced to fire a PC candidate in the Windsor riding of Essex, Dave Brister, after he came out against right-to-work. But the Tories said Brister was dropped after he openly attacked PC labour critic Monte McNaughton on Twitter for supporting labour law changes.
“As I told you last year (at)montemcnaughton I support (at)timhudak but I don’t endorse your Labour Critic support for ‘right to work’ legislation,” Brister Tweeted Jan. 21.
“I was informed earlier this afternoon that PC HQ prefers followers to leaders and that I am no longer the PC candidate in Essex,” he posted later that day.
The Liberals also released a leaked audio tape from a PC policy convention last fall in which veteran Tory John O’Toole was applauded by delegates when he warned the party could be “screwed” in the expected spring election by “right-to-work” policies.
Even though his language has been modified slightly, Hudak said he isn’t backing away from his controversial plan because he’s convinced it will help create jobs.
“The problem we have in Ontario is we’re winning the race to the bottom,” he said. “Those that used to work at Caterpillar or Kellogs or Heinz, John Deere in Niagara, their wages have gone down to zero. Those jobs have all gone across the border.”
The Tories, meanwhile, released another radio ad on Wednesday for the Feb. 13 byelection in Niagara Falls attacking New Democrat candidate Wayne Gates for saying he wants to see his old union, the CAW, “take over” the NDP.
The New Democrats released a television ad for Niagara Falls attacking Hudak and the Conservatives for “sitting on the sidelines” and making no mention of the Liberals.
It’s a sign the Tories and New Democrats feel they are each other’s real competition in Niagara Falls, even though Liberal Kim Craitor held the riding for the past decade.
Hudak held his news conference Wednesday in Thornhill, the site of next week’s other byelection, where the Conservatives are fighting hard to hold on to the seat against a strong Liberal challenge.
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