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Hudak Touts Jobs Plan

PC Party Leader Tim Hudak, (flanked by local candidate Ernie Hardeman) holds a town hall style meeting at Veldale Farms in Oxford Centre on Tuesday.

PC Leader is the second party leader to stop in Oxford County during the provincial campaign.

OXFORD CENTRE -- Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak was making his first campaign stop in Oxford County Tuesday, paying a visit to Veldale Farms in Oxford Centre, flanked by long-time incumbent and local P-C candidate Ernie Hardeman.

Hudak answered questions and spoke to the crowd for over 45 minutes discussing his "Million Jobs Plan." 

When it comes to his party's plan to eliminate red tape which is often seen as over-regulating small and medium sized businesses, Hudak says his plan would go the farthest  in Canada.

"Here's the additional aspect that makes it the strongest anywhere, I'll tie my cabinet's pay to that outcome. I'll say to my cabinet and myself as Premier, that if we don't hit that goal of free up small business to create jobs -- I'm going to dock your pay, and I'll dock my pay as well."

Hudak cites over 380,000 different rules and regulations for employers in the province and says he'll knock them down by at least a third.  He adds his focus will finally get politicians putting people's money where their mouths are in keeping their promises for jobs in Ontario.

During the town hall style question and answer session, Hudak also addressed his plan to eliminate 100-thousand public sector jobs in the process.

"One-point-one million (people in Ontario) working for government, that excludes the federal government too by the way. So what I'm suggesting is that we go back to one million, that's 2009 levels.  To me that seems very fair and reasonable and balanced, and I think any premier who wants to take on some tough economic times and spend within their means can find ten cents on the dollar over the next four years."

Hudak was just one of three major party leaders in the 2014 Provincial Election making campaign stops in Southwestern Ontario today.

He attempted to shed more light on his plan, answering questions on how it will harness the potential of Ontario's rural communities by reducing regulatory burden, improving access to the skilled trades and ensuring that every community gets a fair share of gas tax revenue.

"It's going to work in Oxford Centre as much as it's going to work in Scarborough Centre.  It means lower taxes for employers to say, 'This is the best place to add on that new machine which will hire more people.' Provinces or states that are deep in debt, they scare jobs away. Head down the 401 and who's opening a plant in Detroit, Michigan these days? -- I don't want to see that for our province.  Less debt, lower taxes and affordable energy, that will bring one-million jobs back to our province."

Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne was also in the region Tuesday, touring a farm in Paris, saying if the Liberals win re-election, they'll introduce a 40-million dollar per year fund to help farmers and the agriculture sector -- money she says would come from a 2.5-billion-dollar "jobs and prosperity'' fund aimed at providing government grants to businesses.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath also was in the region Tuesday, with campaign stops in London earlier in the afternoon.

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