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w w w .i n si d eH A LT O N .c o m O A K V IL LE B EA V ER W ed ne sd ay , S ep te m be r 14 , 2 01 1 1 0 By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath stopped by Oakville Friday to unveil her plan for a Job Creation Tax Credit, which she says will create 20,000 new jobs a year. Horwath announced the tax credit while visiting Oakvilles Sheet Metal Workers Training Centre on Sheridan Garden Drive. Good jobs are what we need, said Horwath. We just saw more announcements of job losses today in the province. What we want to do is expand the pool of jobs available so that all workers, new Canadians, young people, people who have been laid off from their jobs, have an opportunity to get a good job in Ontario. The tax credit, which will be implemented if the NDP are victorious in Octobers provin- cial election, will reimburse employers 20 per cent of the wage for new hires for one year, up to $5,000 per worker. The announcement follows the recent roll- out of a controversial Liberal proposal that would offer a tax credit of up to $10,000 to employers who hire new immigrants. To qualify for the NDP tax credit, Horwath said, companies will have to provide on-the-job training and demonstrate they are creating new positions, not filling existing jobs with subsidized workers. This is not for contract positions, not for part-time positions, but full-time permanent workers, said Horwath. This way, employers are able to defer the initial costs of getting new workers lined up. The only requirements, as I said, it has to be a permanent job and it cant be a job where you fired someone else so you could take advantage of the program. To make sure many employers can make use of this program, Horwath said any single employer can only use up to $100,000 of the available funds per year. During her visit Horwaths campaign buses also drove past the Ford Assembly Plant where the NDP leader said her father worked for most of his life as a paint inspector. It was a good way of symbolizing how easy it used to be to be able to walk into a plant and land a job that you would pretty much hold for the rest of your life. A job that could sustain a good quality of life for your family, a job that had benefits and had a pension, said Horwath. I look at my son, who is almost 19, and he went through the summer without a job and I know the same challenge faces a lot of other young people and a lot of other Ontarians. Thats why we brought this policy here today, fto talk about the need to expand the number o jobs in Ontario today so people have some hope for the future. Horwath also stopped by the Tim Hortons, located at Royal Windsor and Ford Drive, where she purchased a green tea and spoke with some local constituents. Horwath said the major election issues people are stressing to her, and which her party intends to deal with, include job cre- ation, affordability of everyday life and improved health care. She also said the NDP approach towards dealing with these issues makes far more sense than some of the plans the other parties have. We dont believe in across the board tax cuts. We think those blank cheques dont do anything to create jobs, said Horwath. These targeted approaches, investment tax credits for training and for investments in plants and machinery encourage employers to stay in Ontario and train their workforce. Andrea Horwath unveils NDP job plan in Oakville COFFEE TALK: Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath chats with a local constituent during a Tim Hortons campaign stop in Oakville on Friday. DAVID LEA / OAKVILLE BEAVER