Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty delivered a speech in Oakville Tuesday calling on the Conservatives to give the province more federal revenues.
The premier, who wants the feds to fork over more than $1 billion from energy and gas taxes, said his government's track record should compel Harper to help fund Ontario.
"Our plan ... to work with our businesses and to attract the investment and high paying jobs our families need is working," McGuinty said in a speech to the Oakville Chamber of Commerce.
"We have 340,000 more jobs than we had four years ago to prove it."
During the address, McGuinty challenged the federal government to:
- Match Ontario's contribution of $500 million to create and retain jobs by helping manufacturers invest in modern equipment.
- Match Ontario's contribution to a recently announced $650 million to fund private sector investment in the research and development of new green technologies.
- Fix the Employment Insurance system, which still requires Ontarians work longer to qualify for employment insurance than Canadians in other provinces, and pays them fewer benefits when they do qualify.
McGuinty said Ontario doesn't have enough money to remain competitive because it faces high energy costs, a high dollar and higher interest rates, he said.
"To overcome these challenges ... we need to accelerate our plan," he said.
"We need the federal government to be a true partner in this -- we need them to return some of the windfall revenues they're banking from energy taxes."
