The president of the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce fears what provincial labour laws introduced in June will do to future jobs in Ontario.
Matt Marchand says an economic impact study on Bill 148 finds that 185,000 jobs will be at risk in Ontario over the next two years and that the cost of living will increase by an average of $1,300 per household each year, if the legislation is implemented as currently drafted.
"What is Ontario's story to attract and maintain business, because it's getting more difficult to tell as each day passes," says Marchand.
The province says it won't back down on plans to raise the minimum wage to $15/hr without a phase-in.
Something, Marchand says, the premier promised to do in 2014.
Marchand says Ontario's cost structure is killing jobs.
"What is Ontario's story to attract and maintain investment and I offer this. Ohio, one third the electricity cost, minimum wage $8 or $9, they have no cap and trade and there's no border risk," Marchand says.
Marchand says the province doesn't have to be the cheapest but it must be competitive.
"We're trying to attract and maintain investment. Like, what is Ontario's story? Our exports to the U.S. have fallen dramatically over the past ten to 15 years. We used to export 50% and now it's a third," says Marchand.