Howard Hampton - Queen's Park Report

The continuing expense scandal at eHealth Ontario, and the McGuinty government’s seemingly laissez-faire supervision of the agency, has cast concerns on not only the competency of the government but also on the status of Ontario’s electronic health records system.

From the NDP

AbitibiBowater’s announcement last week of a month-long shutdown at its newsprint and kraft pulp operations, as well as a one-week shutdown at its sawmill and woodlands operations, shows the McGuinty government continues to fail Northern Ontario, NDP leader Howard Hampton charged.
“Eleven hundred workers received layoff notices yesterday [Jan. 14] and we haven’t heard a word from the McGuinty Liberals,” said Hampton.

From the NDP

Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton is calling on Dalton McGuinty to stand up to big forestry companies and protect Northern Ontario’s public hydro and forestry assets.
“Over the past four years, Northern Ontario’s economy has been hit by wave after wave of forest-sector job losses,” noted Hampton. “More than 10,000 direct forestry jobs and thousands more indirect ones are gone.

From the NDP

Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton on Thursday put the wrap on a successful fall session of the Legislature for his party by criticizing the McGuinty government for its continuing failure to address Ontario’s growing jobs crisis.
“When we began the session three months ago, the global economy was beginning to show serious cracks,” noted Hampton. “[But] what began as a crisis has quickly moved into a recession, and now some economists are suggesting we might even see a depression.

From the NDP

NDP leader Howard Hampton slammed last Wednesday’s economic statement by Finance minister Dwight Duncan for offering no real plan to deal with Ontario’s staggering manufacturing job losses, growing poverty rates, and crumbling infrastructure.
“Today’s economic statement makes it abundantly clear that Ontario’s economy under Dalton McGuinty has gone from boom to bust,” Hampton said Wednesday. “The McGuinty Liberals had no plan during the good economic times and now they have no plan for the bad times.

Going back to school is a stressful time for parents and kids. It’s a time of new challenges and new relationships, excitement, and some jitters.
Parents have a lot on their minds, getting their kids back into a routine and buying back-to-school supplies. Kids are worried about who they’ll sit next to at lunch at a new school or if they’re wearing the right outfit.

Going back to school is a stressful time for parents and kids. It’s a time of new challenges and new relationships, excitement, and some jitters.
Parents have a lot on their minds, getting their kids back into a routine and buying back-to-school supplies. Kids are worried about who they’ll sit next to at lunch at a new school or if they’re wearing the right outfit.

NDP leader Howard Hampton continues to pressure Premier Dalton McGuinty to commit to ensuring immediate changes to address First Nations’ rights in regards to mineral exploration.
“The McGuinty Liberals have been in power for more than five years and continue to talk about changes to the Mining Act, but all we hear is talk,” said Hampton.
“The McGuinty Liberals could immediately bring in a regulation that would be an important first step in ensuring First Nations’ consultation. But the Premier refused,” he added.

NDP leader Howard Hampton says Dalton McGuinty’s economic policies are failing to protect the province’s good-paying manufacturing jobs and sentencing more Ontario families to poverty.
The magnitude of the manufacturing jobs crisis was heightened Monday with the announcement that General Motors is closing its Windsor transmission plant, sending another 1,400 workers on the unemployment lines.
“This is devastating news for Windsor and adds to the almost 220,000 manufacturing jobs lost across Ontario since July, 2004,” said Hampton.

NDP leader Howard Hampton says the McGuinty government must do more than point the finger at Ottawa, and take immediate and bold action to reverse an Ontario manufacturing recession that December’s jobs’ report suggests has taken a dramatic turn for the worse.
Hampton said a good place to start would be to immediately introduce a competitive industrial hydro rate for key manufacturing and resource sectors.