Tim Hudak Advocates Closer Ontario-India Economic Ties

Toronto: Hon. Tim Hudak, Leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives and the leader of the official opposition, said last week that Ontario should work seriously to erasing barriers to free trade in order to boost the province’s economy and create jobs; he also advocated pro-immigration policies to attract job-ready immigrants to the province. Advocating strong, modern free trade agreements that include both goods and professional services, Hon. Hudak emphasized that only such agreements would give Ontario workers and entrepreneurs a level playing field to access foreign markets.

In fact, a 2009 study sponsored by the Canadian and Indian governments found that Canada’s financial sector – widely acknowledged as one of the strongest in the world – is an ideal partner for Indian institutions. Yet foreign investment barriers hinder Canadian financial intuitions from expanding through strategic partnerships and deter others from entering the Indian market.

A free trade agreement between the two countries could remove barriers like those in the financial sector, and inject $6billion into the Canadian economy, creating 40,000 new jobs and boosting the average family’s annual income by $500. “Given this access, they will succeed and create jobs,” he said. He also said that Ontario must maximize the latest federal immigration programs to compete with other provinces and “make sure we get immigrants who are job-ready and can contribute to our economic growth.”

Hon. Hudak was addressing a roundtable with prominent members of the Indo-Canadian community on the state of the province’s economy. The roundtable was held at Queen’s Park in Toronto in association with the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC).

Naval Bajaj, President of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, emphasized the role of the small businesses in the province’s economy. Giving statistics, Naval Bajaj said, Ontario has more than 380,000 small businesses that have employees on their payroll. Additionally more than 20 % of the province’s population is employed by small businesses. Almost 95 % of the province’s exporters are small businesses, accounting for nearly 40 % of export value.

“These are impressive numbers, and I am happy to note that soon after Hon. Tim Hudak assumed the leadership of the PC caucus, he came out with the PC Small Business Growth Plan. Some of the ideas in that plan have far-reaching ramifications in building the small and medium sector and taking it to a new level. Our Chamber has worked in this sphere to enable small businesses to become export enabled,” the ICCC President observed.

Among the participants who spoke at the event included Satish Thakkar, Immediate Past President, ICCC. He emphasized the role of small businesses in giving dynamism to the provincial economy. Stephen Green of the law firm Green & Speigel (which specializes in immigration issues) pointed out that Manitoba has 5,000 provincial nominee applications and Ontario just 1,000, feels that Ontario needs to do much more to attract new applicants who wish to immigrate to Canada. He also said that the investor category has too high a requirement of capital. Baljit Sierra, the President of Novo Plastics, talked about how his company went into India and setup operations in India. Rakesh Goenka, former president of the ICCC, and an IT professional, spoke about talent shortage in the IT sector, and quoted NASSCOM President Som Mittal statement that 2 % to 3% unemployment in IT actually indicates a skills shortage.

Christine Elliott, the Deputy Leader of the party, also participated in the roundtable. She reiterated the Progressive Conservative’s commitment to improving Ontario’s economy. The path to job creation and economic growth means that Ontario should take a lead role in advocating for new international free trade agreements and proposing a pro-growth plan to immigration, she said.The roundtable also discussed the ambitious plans for improving transit. Hon. Tim Hudak said that transit needed to be unified across the province and taken away from the cities.