MARKHAM, Ont. - Premier Dalton McGuinty's upcoming trip to Israel and the West Bank will seek to attract more high-tech jobs to Ontario to replace some of those lost in the struggling manufacturing and resource sector.
The five-day trip will look to boost trade and investment for Ontario businesses, especially when it comes to expanding health-care partnerships and tapping into Israel's expertise in turning high-tech ideas into high-tech jobs.
"In a highly competitive, knowledge-based global economy, we're not going to succeed in Ontario by pulling stuff out of the ground," said McGuinty, who will head to the Middle East in May.
"Our natural resource sector is very important to us but we know that future growth will come on the development of our imaginations and our innovative capacities."
Critics questioned whether McGuinty's focus should be outside of the province when local manufacturing and mining companies are struggling.
Swiss miner Xstrata PLC plans to shut down its copper and zinc operations in Timmins in May, around the same time McGuinty will be in Israel.
It's a move that will have a devastating impact on the mining community in northeastern Ontario and see the loss of almost 700 direct jobs as production moves to Quebec.
The Canadian Auto Workers union has called on the federal and Ontario governments to investigate Xstrata's reasons for closing the Timmins smelter. The union says shutting down the Kidd Mine metallurgical site could cause the loss of up to 4,428 jobs when spin-off jobs are taken into account, and $152 million in annual taxes.
"Instead of maximizing those assets to make sure that the value-added jobs of that resource sector are created and sustained here in Ontario, the government has had no plan," said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.
"It is shameful that the premier doesn't look at the opportunities right here at home before doing the other work that he's doing, or perhaps in tandem with the other work that he's doing."
McGuinty acknowledged people in Timmins were facing a "difficult time," but said part of his job was to find investments abroad that will help create jobs in all across the province.
"That's why I go to places like India, that's why I go to places like China, that's why I've been to Japan and now I'm going to Israel and the West Bank -- in order to enhance our trade ties and to see more investment here in Ontario, including in places like Timmins," he said.
According to the government, two-way goods traded between Ontario and Israel in 2008 totalled almost $1.1 billion, which represents an increase of 86 per cent from 2004.
Conservative Mike Harris was the last Ontario premier to visit Israel, in October 1998.
McGuinty's trip will include stops in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ramallah and Bethlehem.
