The Northern Ontario tour for the P-C leader wraps up tomorrow in North Bay. Patrick Brown has been talking to people in communities across the north about how his four pillars of economic development can help grow Northern Ontario. Those four pillars are cutting red tape, investing in infrastructure, linking education to employment, and affordable energy prices.
On energy prices, Brown says global adjustment is killing people and the sale of Hydro One is going to hurt people, especially in Northern Ontario. He says it’s no surprise that so many municipalities have opposed it with resolutions. That includes North Bay city council who formally adopted a position against the sale in July of 2015. Brown says the more of Hydro One that is sold off, the more the province will lose future control of rate increases. He says dealing with the failed green energy act and the sale of hydro one and, as well as reigning in the salaries of executives in the energy department are ways the PC’s plan to lower hydro costs.
Brown says when it comes to education, the province is backwards right now. He says there are more students graduating than there are jobs available. He referenced that 9,000 nursing students graduated last year for 5,000 potential nursing jobs. Brown says Ontario has huge shortages in tech jobs and skilled trades. Locally, Canadore College has seen a number of students choose the trades based on enrolment levels from the past few years. Brown finished by saying he wants to change education to make sure more jobs are available when students graduate in Ontario.
