Dear Mr Hudak:
I am writing you regarding the serious methodology flaws in your so-called "Million Jobs" platform that have been exposed in recent days by some of Canada's leading economists.
As you are aware, a number of the most respected economists in the country, including Paul Boothe, Jim Stanford, Mike Moffatt, Scott Clark and Peter DeVries, upon close analysis of your platform, have noted that your calculations for job creation are grossly inflated by a basic arithmetic error.
These economists all note that by mistakenly counting person-years of employment as permanent jobs, your platform claims to create eight-times the number of jobs than is mathematically possible – even accepting some or all of your basic economic assumptions. Indeed, the Conference Board of Canada, an organization your party consulted in drafting your platform, confirmed your miscalculation yesterday with The Globe and Mail.
It is troubling that, when confronted with these facts, rather than acknowledge the mistake, and take measures to correct it, you have denied that there is even a problem.
Mr. Hudak, this is a serious matter. An honest mistake - even one as fundamental as this one - is one thing. But the refusal to correct that mistake, even when confronted with overwhelming and, frankly, irrefutable evidence is more deeply troubling.
For that reason, I am calling on you today to do one of two things:
- Produce one qualified, independent economist who agrees with your position that person-years of employment are the same as permanent jobs. This basic error in your platform, exposed by the economists cited above, has grossly inflated your job creation claims.
- Or, failing that, either substantially amend or withdraw what is clearly a fatally flawed and wholly misleading platform.
As politicians, none of us are perfect. Voters are certainly keenly aware of this. But we do owe voters the honesty and decency of admitting when we make mistakes and correcting those mistakes.
I hope you will take the appropriate course of action.
Sincerely,
Kathleen Wynne,
Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party
Premier of Ontario
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