HAMILTON - Unless someone in Sarnia suddenly strikes oil, Ontario residents need to stay calm and "steel themselves'' for tough economic times ahead while realizing that "this too shall pass,'' Premier Dalton McGuinty said Friday.
In the wake of a rising jobless rate -- up to 6.4 per cent in March from 6.1 per cent in February -- and critics urging more aggressive action, McGuinty said Ontario has been through tough economic times before and has always emerged stronger than ever.
"Never panic. Panic doesn't help. Understand our history,'' McGuinty said at a high school in Hamilton. "We're going to continue to go through some challenging times. I think we kind of have to steel ourselves to that reality. It's something that much of the world is trying to find a way to address.''
Although the Conservatives -- both federal and provincial -- are calling for tax cuts to stimulate the economy, McGuinty said Ontario can't control the three factors hurting the province the most: the slowing U.S. economy, the high price of oil and the soaring Canadian dollar.
"It would be nice to say that I'm going to discover oil in Sarnia or a natural gas field in Thunder Bay,'' McGuinty said. "I just don't think that's going to happen.''
The Liberals will continue making strategic investments in business, infrastructure and education to help the province weather the economic turbulence, he said.
But McGuinty said tax cuts are not the panacea for Ontario.
"People are pretty savvy about this. I don't really think they expect a lot of magic at a time like this,'' McGuinty said.
"I'm not going to make dramatic, reckless cuts to business taxes. If I were to do that, I would have less money for education. ... I'd have less money for health care. I'd have less money for supports for our most vulnerable. We're making some choices.''
Opposition parties have accused the Liberals of ignoring a growing chorus of economists making gloomy predictions about the province's economy, which has been hit hard in recent years by thousands of job losses in the manufacturing sector.
A recent RBC report predicted that with manufacturing in peril, Ontario will be on the brink of a recession as growth slows to 0.8 per cent. McGuinty's advice comes as southwestern Ontario is poised to lose another 630 jobs with two factory closures in St. Thomas and St. Marys.
For those families and businesses who are "losing jobs and losing hope,'' Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory said McGuinty's "stay the course'' message isn't very reassuring.
Telling people to tighten their belts while overseeing "runaway taxation and spending'' is the height of hypocrisy, Tory said.
"If that's the best he's got to offer, he's just given up,'' Tory said, adding other provinces facing similar gloomy economic prospects are cutting taxes.
"It's funny Mr. McGuinty found different ways to spend $5 billion he didn't expect to have last year on all kinds of things ... and yet he describes any kind of tax relief provided to businesses as reckless and says the only trade-off you have is closing hospitals and schools. It's totally ridiculous.''
NDP Leader Howard Hampton said the economic slowdown is affecting everyone across Canada. But he said other provinces, like Quebec and Manitoba, are taking action by bringing in refundable manufacturing tax credits to save jobs.
While northern Ontario has lost thousands of forestry jobs, Hampton said not one sawmill or paper mill has closed across the border in Manitoba.
"It's incredibly irresponsible to now say he's not going to do anything when it's clear there is a lot that could be done,'' Hampton said. "There are real practical policies that could be put in place to help sustain manufacturing jobs.''
