Wynne spells out priorities: trade, technology, Trump
“We cannot simply assume that President (Donald) Trump will do the right thing or make the right choices,” Premier Kathleen Wynne says in a major speech in Hamilton.

thestar.com
By ROBERT BENZIE
April 24, 2017

Trump, trade and technology.

Premier Kathleen Wynne has signalled these three themes will dominate her agenda in the homestretch to next year’s provincial campaign.

In a major speech on Monday in Hamilton, where she launched a basic income pilot project to help low-income Ontarians, Wynne stressed she would keep the pedal to the metal through the June 7, 2018 election.

“We cannot simply assume that President (Donald) Trump will do the right thing or make the right choices,” said the premier, at a convention centre, of the mercurial new American president.

“We cannot simply assume that the jobs of tomorrow will be available to Ontarians. Government must have a plan. And to be premier of this province, you must have a plan,” she said, in an apparent reference to Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown.

Brown, who leads in public-opinion polls, has been so reluctant to discuss policy specifics that his party has quietly changed its November pre-election conference in Toronto from a delegated convention, with Tory members voting, into a glorified campaign rally.

Trailing the PC leader by double digits in polls, Wynne, by contrast, will be highlighting her detailed plans for the months and years ahead.

These include labour reforms that will make it easier for workers to unionize.

“This is a new world with new challenges. In this new world, our plan to date as a government has been straightforward: Get the fundamentals right by reducing the deficit, supporting new jobs, focusing on economic growth, and investing in those priorities that can have the most impact,” she said.

With Finance Minister Charles Sousa tabling the first balanced budget in Ontario since 2008 on Thursday, the province is well-positioned for future, the premier insisted.

“People are anxious about their jobs and their futures. They are worried about the soaring cost of renting or buying a place to live,” said Wynne, who last week announced new rent controls for all residential housing units and measures to cool down southern Ontario’s expensive real estate market.

“Technological progress and automation are creating new industries, but they are also bringing new pressures and putting existing jobs at risk,” she said.

“Ontario businesses have never been better at creating wealth, but ensuring those benefits are shared widely and fairly seems to be getting more difficult.”

That’s a big part of why Wynne is launching the basic income pilots in the Hamilton area. including Brantford, Thunder Bay, and, later this year, Lindsay, as a way of delivering social assistance programs better.

It’s also why the Liberals are touting the development that 210,000 students from low- and middle-income families will have free college and university tuition this fall, and why even those from more affluent backgrounds will qualify for more aid.

“Then there is the role of trade and - let’s face it - the question mark that is the Trump presidency,” the premier said.

“We know that trade is essential to the economic prosperity of Ontario and of Canada, but in the U.S., there is a growing instinct to embrace protectionist policies even when the evidence shows that Americans actually benefit from their trade relationships and agreements.”

Earlier this month, Wynne, who has been personally lobbying border governors, successfully managed to convince the state of New York not to impose a Buy American program for procurement of government services.

“In the midst of this uncertainty, we have to work to support and defend our people as best we can. We must stand up for our farmers and our manufacturers, for companies and workers in the auto industry and the forest industry,” she said.

“From technology to Trump, it is a time of greater uncertainty and change. Government has a responsibility to respond, to step up, to protect the wages and the well-being of our people by continuing to be bold, and active, and inventive.”

Wynne’s underlying message Monday appeared to be that even though polls suggest Ontarians have misgivings about her, she remains a safe hand on the tiller.

“In this time of turmoil, we must work harder than ever to build and preserve a fair society. We must make sure that hard work is rewarded with a decent paycheque.”