Thursday, March 12th 2009

By selma al-samarrai

Andrea Horwath officially moved into her NDP’s provincial leader seat at Queen’s Park on Monday Mar. 9. Horwath expressed that one of her first major goals is to tackle the rapid job loss that has occurred throughout Ontario in the past few months.

“First thing I did when I took my seat in legislature on Monday is put Dalton McGuinty on notice that the loss of jobs in the province is unacceptable and the government has to put a plan together. We’ve watched hundreds of thousands of jobs leave Ontario and the government has had no plan to stem that job loss and to create good jobs for the future so that was my first reaction; to make sure the government is well aware that were not going to stand by and let them allow these jobs to go without taking any action.”

Some of the proposed actions that Horwath discussed include building green cars and electric cars, which would revive the car and automobile sector in Ontario and ensure good job availability.

Horwath also explained that the increasing demand for a Light Rail System throughout some Ontario cities, including Hamilton and Ottawa can also be opportunities to rescue the economy, “We have a unique opportunity right now, the government has the desire to be funding infrastructure projects and help stimulate the economy [through a] pent up demand for a LRT.”

“Unfortunately, the government is not focusing the infrastructure on what I call legacy projects for the future. If you think about, in Ontario we have the infrastructure and the work force that could enable us to master a LRT into the ground very quickly, put people back to work across Ontario and make sure we’re doing what needs to be done to get people out of their single vehicles into mass transit and that could deal with climate issues, we win all the way around.”

Horwath elaborated that the economic downturn and environmental concerns are one of the largest motivations to get these actions started as soon as possible.

Regarding the NDP party, Horwath explained that she wanted to improve the NDP from, “the grassroots up.”

Horwath’s previous political and community involvements date back to over a decade. Horwath was the Hamilton Council for Ward two in 1997, 2000 and 2003. Some of her accomplishments include creating the green cart program, two way streets in downtown and trying to convert some old unused office space into condominiums in downtown. Prior to her city council involvement, Horwath was a community organizer for a social justice oriented service where she helped single mothers, individuals with disabilities, and tenants with issues that hindered their ability to live their lives either in good conditions or with some control.

“I think it’s important to have different voices and perspectives on the table and being leader of the New Democratic party in Ontario, I think I can bring some positive change. I am organizer by trade, and I wanted to not only raise these issues from my unique perspective but using those same assets to build and grow my party.”

Tags: Horwath, job loss, NDP