MISSISSAUGA, Ont. - Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak isn't backing away from his attacks on a tax credit for companies that hire new Canadians but is starting to soften his language when he talks about immigrants.
Hudak's focus on what he calls a special deal for foreign workers dominated the headlines in the first week of the Ontario election campaign, and he appeared to want to keep that momentum going as he started week two.
But while he still chided Premier Dalton McGuinty for what he says is a divisive policy, his tone was more measured than the impassioned stump speeches of last week, and he now refers to those "foreigners" as "the select few."
McGuinty has asked the Tory leader apologize to those he wrongly called foreigners, but Hudak says it's the premier who should be apologizing to the 500,000 unemployed he's leaving outside his program.
The $10,000 tax credit would offset training costs for up to one year for Canadian citizens who have been in the country five years or less and are in professions such as architecture, accounting or engineering.
It's a $12-million program that would help a relative few -- between 1,000 and 1,200 people a year.
Hudak also says his is the only party that can be trusted to create jobs and get the economy moving again by giving middle class families the confidence to spend.
His plan, he adds, has been built to withstand a possible recession, but he wouldn't give details about where a Tory government would make cuts if the economy tanks once again.
