'Stop Hudak' campaign rallies unions in Windsor

Labour leaders from across Ontario rallied in Windsor, where more than 500 people were at the Caboto Club on Tuesday night for a 'Stop Hudak' event.

They say Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak isn't labour friendly and needs to be stopped from becoming premier.

Earlier this week, Hudak promised to slash 100,000 public sector jobs if his party forms government next month.

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"Will we have fewer jobs in government? We will," Hudak said Tuesday. "Sadly, Ontario's become a province of smaller dreams and bigger government."

Chris Taylor, the president of the Windsor District Labour Council, referenced Hudak's stance with auto manufacturers, like Chrysler, as one of the reasons organized labour is working against the PC leader. Earlier this year, Hudak accused Chrysler of asking for "ransom" when the company requested government assistance to retool its Ontario plants.

"He [Hudak] told Kathleen Wynne [to] not invest in those auto companies. In Windsor you can imagine what we would look like without Chrysler," said Taylor.

Sid Ryan, the president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, said Hudak has no real plan for creating jobs in Ontario.

"When he talks about a million jobs, we say, 'okay, you need three of [of those million] to make a decent living,'" Ryan said. "At $10/hr you can't afford to buy a home, buy a car, put your kids through university.". 

However, the incumbent PC MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, Monte McNaughton, called the labour campaign against his party leader "nonsense."

"Tim Hudak is the only leader and we're the only party putting a bold jobs plan to repatriate jobs back to Ontario and send a signal to the rest of the world that Ontario is open for business again," said McNaughton, who served as the PC party's labour critic. "By making energy more affordable, by modernizing skilled trades regulations in Ontario, by balancing the budget so we can attract companies back to Ontario."

Hudak has admitted the largest job creator in his Million Job Plan will come from doing nothing at all. It's estimated 523,000 jobs would be created by the economy, no matter who is in power.

Still, Hudak says he wants to build on that baseline number.

"I think we can do a lot better. That's why I brought my own plan forward, to add until we get a million-jobs-plus for Ontarians. And that million jobs, that's a net," he said.