By Sean Meyer/London Community News

With a couple dozen or so protestors rallying outside, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty called on the owners of Electro-Motive Canada to return to the bargaining table.

McGuinty’s statement came on Tuesday (Jan. 31), during a speech before approximately 330 people taking in a London Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the London Hilton. The premier was in London to share his views on what is needed to grow the province’s economy for the future.

The situation at Electro-Motive — where the company’s American parent, Caterpillar Inc., has locked out approximately 425 members of the Canadian Autoworkers Union (CAW) for over a month — was a key point of the speech.

“I am urging Electro-Motive’s owners to return to the bargaining table, engage in meaningful discussions, and try and resolve this lockout,” McGuinty said. “So far, the owners of Electro-Motive have failed to live up to Ontarians’ expectations.”

McGuinty said the province has a well-earned tradition of fair labour laws that have “promoted an atmosphere of respect between workers and management.” The premier said that tradition is failing, in this case, because of a lack of communication between the two sides.

“This system works, in almost all cases,” McGuinty said. “It’s not working because the balanced, made-in-Ontario approach requires that unions and management sit down and talk to try and work out their differences.”

Getting back to his reason for speaking at the chamber, one of the fundamentals for the province’s future, McGuinty said, is the need to combat the provincial deficit, which currently stands at $16 billion. Before the recession, McGuinty said the province balanced three budgets in row. However, the loss of revenues, at a time when the need for services was so high, caused the deficit to reach the proportions it now stands at.

“But just as it was right to run a deficit to protect Ontarians from the worst of an economic storm, now that the storm is over, so is it right to rededicate our plans to eliminate that deficit,” McGuinty said.

McGuinty went on to discuss what he called “the fundamental strengths” of Ontario, including the province’s tax and regulatory system, the power grid, infrastructure, and the workforce.

The tax system, McGuinty said, puts businesses at an advantage while also reducing personal income taxes for 93 per cent of Ontarians who are paying less tax than they were four years ago.

The province’s electrical grid is “the lifeblood of a growing economy,” McGuinty said, while highlighting his government’s commitment to rebuild 80 per cent of the system over the next 20 years.

The renewable energy sector, and the jobs McGuinty said it is creating, was a focal point of his remarks on the provincial power grid. The 200 jobs being created in London by Samsung C&T was highlighted; while he also talked about the controversy this sector has created in some people’s minds.

McGuinty said that despite the controversy, his government remains committed to renewable energy.

“Our government stands for clean energy, clean energy jobs, and clean air,” McGuinty said. “It is more important than ever that we work to maintain our edge. So we are going to keep moving forward with our green energy plan while always looking for ways to improve it.”

McGuinty came back to the subject of jobs saying his government remains committed to not only protecting existing ones, but also attracting new opportunities. The creation of the Southwestern Ontario Development Fund, which is designed to secure job-creating investments and help grow the economy in this area of the province, was once again spoken of.

However, it is the labour force itself McGuinty spoke out in support of the strongest. “It is just a hard fact, you can’t compete in the race to the top without a highly skilled and educated work force,” McGuinty said. “When it comes to growth, the Ontario indicators are all headed in the right direction.”