Media Advisory-Sid Ryan Available for Comment on Throne Speech: OFL Calls on Premier Wynne to Address Fair Taxation and Inequality

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Feb. 19, 2013) - Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan will be available for comment immediately following the throne speech at Queen's Park today. The OFL is calling on Premier Kathleen Wynne to meet the challenges left by her predecessor head on by tackling Ontario's growing inequality, creating jobs and protecting workers' rights.

"Throughout her campaign Wynne fashioned herself as a 'social justice premier,' but she has inherited a decade of austerity measures - including cuts to public services, corporate tax cuts and attacks on collective bargaining rights," said OFL President Sid Ryan. "The premier is tasked with rebooting that economy and addressing the growing income gap head on."

Wynne was elected Premier amid an unprecedented protest of 30,000 outside the Ontario Liberal Party convention in January. Since then, the OFL has called on the new premier to take a fair and balanced approach to balancing the budget, including the following measures:

• An industrial strategy that promotes job creation;
  
  
• Labour law reform that protects workers' collective bargaining rights;
  
  
• Social program funding that pulls Ontario's hospitals, schools and universities out of last place;
  
  
• A poverty reduction plan that increases social assistance rates and provides a living wage for everyone; and
  
  
• Fair taxation for banks, corporations and everyone earning over 250,000.
  

"If Wynne wants to honour her commitment to social justice she'll need to consider meaningful redistribution measures, including an openness to a conversation about fair taxation for banks and corporations," said Ryan. "She must commit to increasing support for those Ontarians who have suffered most from the austerity agenda because economic recovery must include everyone."

The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) represents 54 unions and one million workers in Ontario. For information, visit www.OFL.ca and follow the OFL on Facebook and Twitter: @OFLabour and follow OFL President Sid Ryan at @SidRyan_OFL.