NDP leader talks strikes, trade in Windsor trip

NDP leader Marit Stiles made a stop in Windsor-Essex, part of her All In Ontario Tour. With more, here’s CTV Windsor’s Robert Lothian.

Over a two-day stop in Windsor, the leader of the Ontario NDP focused on job action and improving employment.

Marit Stiles met with business leaders on Wednesday morning, before stopping at picket lines in the community.

Stiles along with Lisa Gretzky, MPP for Windsor West, heard about the employment challenges which have long-plagued Windsor, intensified by the often-changing U.S. tariffs.

“Windsor-Essex is feeling the impact of the threats of Donald Trump to jobs here, to the future jobs and opportunities of this region, more intensely than anywhere else in the country,” Stiles said at a press conference.

Business stakeholders, including the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce, pitched their ideas to help improve the labour market.

In May, Windsor’s 10.8 per cent unemployment rate ranked second worst among Census Metropolitan Areas, only behind Peterborough.

Much of the discussions surrounded public transit, recognizing credentials achieved outside Ontario, electric vehicle incentives, and retaining employers.

Stiles said the province must “get back in the business” of providing funding to municipalities for public transit.

“Because people, as we said, need to be able to get from point A to point B, and when we’re talking about a lot of the workers that we’re talking about here today, are not people who are necessarily going to be able to afford a vehicle to get somewhere right away,” Stiles said.

Stiles wants to see the government develop regional job strategies to help improve employment.

Job action

At picket lines in pockets of Windsor, Stiles stopped by to give support for workers, who, in many cases, have been off the job for weeks.

More than 100 people supporting Canadian Hearing Services and the WSIB gathered along Giles Boulevard to greet Stiles. The former went on strike in late April, while the latter began job action in mid-May.

“Workers know that to do the work they do well, serve the community, the vulnerable community that they serve, they have to fight for that,” Stiles said.

“I’m appalled that the government hasn’t, you know, gotten involved and said, ‘Get back to the table and get a fair agreement with these workers.’”

Later in the day, Stiles stopped at the Best Western on Windsor’s waterfront, where workers have been on the picket line for more than a month.

Stiles will continue her cross-province travel on Thursday in Dresden, where a rally is planned to protest Bill 5, which paves the way for a dump in the community.