NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. -- NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says only her party can be trusted to create new jobs in Ontario.

She visited a Niagara Falls auto parts plant Thursday morning to tout a tax credit that would compensate employers for bringing on new staff -- a goal she says the Liberals and Tories can't be trusted to do.

The $500-million, two-year plan would pay 10 per cent of a new employee's first-year pay, to a maximum of $5,000 per worker and $100,000 per company.

Horwath says the plan would create up to 170,000 "good-paying jobs" and that her party would make sure the cash doesn't go to low-skilled positions or companies that end employment after the year is up.

She says funding for the program would come from finding efficiencies in a government spending review, but couldn't offer further details.

The NDP brought up the tax credit proposal earlier this year, and earlier pitched the idea during the 2011 provincial election campaign.