Michael Harris, Catherine Fife pan Ontario Liberals' job strategy

Waterloo Region Opposition​ MPPs Michael Harris and Catherine Fife are both taking aim at the Liberals' job strategy as they gird for a provincial budget that could determine whether an election will be held in the coming weeks.

Fife, the NDP MPP for Kitchener-Waterloo,and Harris, the Progressive Conservative MPP for Kitchener-Conestoga, spoke with The Morning Edition host Craig Norris this week ahead of Thursday's budget about their priorities for the province.

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The Liberals’ minority government has looked for the NDP to help pass the past two budgets, both of which got no support from the Progressive Conservatives. The government is in the same situation this year, but the NDP is holding its cards close to the vest.

"We've said all along though we want to see the actual budget," said Fife on Wednesday when asked about her party's take on budget details that have already been leaked.

"We're going to read the budget on Thursday and we're going to go from there." 

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The Progressive Conservatives have said for some time they wouldn't be supporting the budget.

"[The Liberals] will come out and promise a bunch of things, one would ask if they can actually deliver on that," Harris said. 

"Our hydro bills continue to skyrocket, not only in our homes but for our employers. And then we see the government's priorities, wasting money on power plants that will not generate one kilowatt of electricity,"said Harris.

Job creation tops list

Creating jobs and spurring economic growth topped the list of issues for both the NDP and PCs.

Harris spoke of concerns he was hearing from constituents over the closure of manufacturing plants in the region and the loss of jobs. 

"You look at Uniroyal, Goodrich, Budd Automotive, Ledco, MTD,  the list goes on and on and on," said Harris.

"And although we have a thriving high-tech sector, we still have a manufacturing base in our region and across our province. Those folks need to get back to work," he said. 

Fife, meanwhile, said her party was focused on spurring growth for small and medium business in the region. She took issue with the Liberal's job creation strategy, singling out a $120-million grant announced by Premier Kathleen Wynne for Waterloo software company OpenText last Friday.

"You've seen the Liberals throw a lot of money at specific companies. We favour a targeted tax credit approach," said Fife. 

"So you actually reward companies that create jobs and that's particularly good for small and medium-size businesses. We definitely want to reward those innovative companies with tax credits, we want to encourage training and retraining through the tax credit and capital investment." 

Transit a key issue

Both opposition MPPs agreed that transit and transportation is a key issue in the budget.

"GO Transit is definitely a priority for folks in our region that want to get Toronto and those that want to come from Toronto back to our region to work," said Harris, adding highways were also a priority.

"Infrastructure will be a priority, but [with] a long list of other things like health and education as well."

The NDP recently committed to pursuing two-way all-day GO service between Waterloo Region and Toronto, as have the Liberals.

"All-way, two-day, GO Train service is high on that priority list," said Fife. 

Fife said the NDP would help fund expanded GO service through a "modest rollback" on tax breaks for corporations in Ontario, and dedicate that fund to transit and infrastructure. 

"We've incorporated it in to jobs strategy, it would be part of our economic vision, because there are 33,000 jobs at play in that ten year infrastructure transit position," said Fife.  

She criticized the Liberals for making unrealistic promises, in particular a pledge to implement high-speed rail service connecting Toronto, Kitchener and London.

"You've seen the Liberals now, they're talking about bullet trains and these super fast trains and it's all spin," said Fife. 

The budget will be tabled in the Ontario legislature Thursday afternoon by Finance Minister Charles Sousa.

Sousa has said that the $11.3-billion provincial deficit will rise in the next couple of years, but the budget will be balanced by 2017-18.