TORONTO - About 175,000 laid-off manufacturing workers -- and another 10,000 who have lost their jobs in Ontario's struggling forestry sector -- will be ineligible for the Liberal government's new, long-term job retraining strategy, NDP Leader Howard Hampton complained Monday.
Premier Dalton McGuinty unveiled the three-year, $355-million plan Friday, saying it would provide about 20,000 laid-off workers with up to $28,000 in support for two years of retraining at a community college.
But the plan excludes anyone who's been out of work for more than a year, which Hampton said would be a devastating blow to one-industry communities in northern Ontario that have been crushed by the downturn in the forestry sector.
"Either you've bungled this job training strategy or you just don't care about those laid-off workers in northern Ontario,'' Hampton yelled at McGuinty in the legislature.
"Literally whole communities have had their economies wiped out, whole communities have watched 500 or 1,000 workers laid off, and they have very few options other than retraining.''
McGuinty fired back by saying Ontario already spends $1 billion every year to help about 900,000 unemployed workers.
He said the longer-term retraining plan -- called Second Career -- is aimed at helping a select number of people who can take themselves out of the workforce for two years or more.
"What we're asking the Ontario worker to do is not easy,'' McGuinty told the legislature.
"There are 20,000 opportunities, but if you're 43 with two children and a mortgage, to go back to school for two years is a significant sacrifice.''
Hampton said it's clear the Second Career plan is more about show than helping laid-off workers, and he accused McGuinty of ducking the issue about forestry workers being shut out of the retraining plan.
"Communities like Thunder Bay or Espanola or Nipigon or Red Rock, the whole community's economy was wiped out, and these are workers who really will need retraining to have any hope of getting a job again,'' Hampton said.
"And the McGuinty government, with one stroke of the pen, has said they're not eligible.''
Training, Colleges and Universities Minister John Milloy accused Hampton of just trying to stir up trouble for the government, and said the Second Career plan was never meant to help all unemployed workers, most of whom are assisted under the $1-billion Employment Ontario program.
"Second Career enhances that by offering additional training to workers who want to move that step forward,'' Milloy told the legislature.
"We're going to be monitoring those who come forward, we're going to be monitoring those who are not eligible for the program, and making any adjustments to the program to make sure that it's enhanced and serves the best needs of Ontario employees.''
But Hampton refused to back down.
"Premier, it seems you have no regard for all those workers in northern Ontario who were laid off,'' he said. "How can you do this sort of thing to workers who are facing a very difficult time?''
