90,000 kilometres in pursuit of jobs
Wynne’s trips part of plan to attract investment, lessen Ontario’s dependence on U.S.
Give or take, Premier Kathleen Wynne travelled about 90,000 kilometres abroad this year — more than twice the circumference of the Earth — in her pursuit of jobs and investment in Ontario.
For her efforts in Japan, South Korea, Israel, Mexico, India and the United States, Wynne and her ministers helped Ontario businesses, hospitals, colleges and universities ink 137 agreements worth $660 million that should create 776 jobs in the province.
The premier’s overseas missions are part of the province’s “going global” strategy to attract investment and lessen Ontario’s dependence on the U.S., which accounts for more than 80 per cent of its trade. Wynne hopes that by diversifying markets and increasing exports, she can increase job creation at home.
The premier’s foreign missions are hardly vacations — she zigzagged 7,200 kilometres around India, visiting Amritsar, Chandigarh, Hyder- abad, Mumbai and New Delhi.
There, she met twice with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as with the chief ministers — the equivalent of provincial premiers — of five of India’s 29 states.
Ontario firms, universities and colleges signed 65 agreements worth $240 million, generating 150 new jobs at home.
In May, Wynne was in Israel and the West Bank. She met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. That Middle East trip led to 44 agreements for Ontario companies and academic institutions worth $180 million, which should lead to 200 new jobs here.
Last month, Wynne was in Japan and South Korea, meeting with automakers and other corporate executives.
“The trade missions to Japan and Korea were very successful — about $240 million worth of agreements and 426 new jobs for Ontario,” she told the legislature earlier this month.
“But beyond that, the over 45 businesses and education leaders that travelled with us to Korea and to Japan made contacts that will lead to research, to further business, to benefits for both Ontario and their jurisdictions.”
Wynne is hopeful that her other excursions — to Michigan, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and Mexico — will result in yet more jobs for Ontario in the months and years ahead.
Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown joked that Wynne was away so much this year because “it was more pleasant for the premier to be outside Ontario.”
“There’s a lot of opposition to her policies around the province,” Brown said earlier this month.
“Having said that, we do want to drive investment to Ontario,” said the Tory leader, who led a delegation of his MPPs to India in January and also met with Modi.
Brown expressed concern that Wynne may not be the best salesperson for the province.
“What’s her pitch to promote Ontario? Come to Ontario — we have the most red tape; we have suffocating gridlock; we have the highest hydro rates in North America; we have a skills mismatch so we’re graduating young people for the wrong jobs,” he said.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, for her part, said Wynne’s “missions are helpful.”
“Any time a government or a premier is out selling our province to other parts of the world . . . can have positive impacts to us,” Horwath said.
“It’s important that governments try to sell our values, the things that we have that are valuable to the rest of the world. Our economy is something that needs to have greater attention from other interests instead of just our biggest . . . single trading partner, which is the U.S.” she said.
“But let’s face it, this premier should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. She’s focusing a lot on these missions, but in the meantime our education system is falling apart, we’ve got long-term care and home care that aren’t meeting the needs of the people of Ontario, they’re selling off Hydro One to their friends and the well connected on Bay Street.”