Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak believes a revamp of the arbitration system is necessary to protect taxpayers in areas like Chatham-Kent and Windsor-Essex.

At a stop in Chatham this afternoon, Hudak highlighted the Ability To Pay Act which was introduced as a private member’s bill this week.

“Stratford firefighters got a 20% wage increase at a time that families were losing their jobs and still had to pay those tax bills,” says Hudak. “Now I respect the work our firefighters do, they are skilled individuals, they put their life on the line for the rest of us. But who here in Chatham-Kent got a 20% wage increase?”

Hudak says settlements should represent local economic circumstances like cost of living and growth, not standards set in wealthier cities.