WINDSOR, Ont. - Premier Dalton McGuinty assured Ontario auto workers Tuesday that he will keep fighting for one of the province's most vital economic sectors as he looked for support in the Oct. 10 provincial election.
Visiting the Chrysler Assembly plant in Windsor, Ont., as the first 2008 mini vans came off the line, McGuinty called auto workers Ontario's "single biggest goal scorer'' in the global economy.
"I want to keep going, I want to keep championing the auto sector,'' McGuinty told the auto workers.
"In the global economy you've got to put your best players on the ice all the time. Nobody scores more goals historically or into the future than the auto sector.''
Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove encouraged the workers to support McGuinty and bashed the federal government for refusing to meet with the union to discuss the auto industry's woes.
"Dalton McGuinty is, I believe, the only political leader in the country that's got it right in terms of investment jobs and the environment,'' said Hargrove.
"Dalton McGuinty is saying, 'look we're all for saving the environment but we can't do that at the expense of the workers who work in the auto industry.' ''
Hargrove, who was thrown out of the New Democratic Party for supporting Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin's failed re-election bid in 2006, encouraged the auto workers to support Ontario's Liberal premier in the Oct. 10 election.
In June, McGuinty announced a $650-million next generation jobs fund for the development of Ontario-built green cars and auto parts.
"I think the Ontario government deserves a lot of credit for that initiative and I want to complement them and I hope you will too,'' said Hargrove.
After meeting the auto workers, McGuinty said he wasn't worried about polls showing the governing Liberals running neck and neck in popular support with the Progressive Conservatives under new leader John Tory.
He said most people pay little attention to politics during the summer months, and he doesn't expect them to become engaged in the election debate until after the Labour Day weekend.
"During the course of the campaign, when people really begin to tune in, we are going to draw to their attention, not only the things that we want to continue to do for them, but all of the things that we've accomplished together,'' said McGuinty.
"We started off with a $5.6-billion deficit, now we're talking about surpluses,'' he said. "Schools used to be battle grounds, now we've got peace and stability. We haven't had any teachers strikes.''
McGuinty has billed himself as the "education premier'' and repeatedly reminds voters of how many Ontario students had their education disrupted by teachers' strikes under the previous Conservative governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves.
