In an election-themed speech Friday, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau told a GTA audience that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives “still don’t seem to get’’ Ontario.

Speaking in Markham to the Liberal Party’s general meeting, Trudeau took a swipe at the experience in government of Harper and his team of former Ontario cabinet ministers John Baird and Tony Clement, and federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver, the MP for Eglinton-Lawrence.

“He (Oliver) should be working alongside Premier (Kathleen) Wynne to build a plan to help Ontario proper. Instead, what does he do? When she put out a budget focused on jobs and growth, he attacked it as a “route to economic decline,’’ Trudeau said.

“Think about that for a second. That’s Canada’s finance minister undermining consumer and investor confidence in the province that is 40 per cent of our country’s economy,’’ the Liberal leader told the audience.

“That’s just short-sighted, partisan, and irresponsible. And it needs to stop,’’ Trudeau said in a speech seemingly tailored for the federal election slated for the fall of 2015.

“Well I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Ontario needs a partner in Ottawa, not an opponent. My friends, you and I are going to prove to Ontarians that we have the plan and team to be that partner,’’ Trudeau said.

Oliver made the economic decline comment in a CBC interview in May during the spring Ontario election campaign, saying the Ontario Liberals’ plan to stimulate the economy through deficit spending would compound slow growth in the province.

Oliver also said the Liberals’ Ontario Retirement Pension plan would disadvantage Ontario and “kill jobs.’’

Trudeau went on to say the “antagonistic attitude’’ toward Ontario from the Harper government has produced some predictable results.

He said you don’t have to spend much time in the GTA before you realize it has serious infrastructure needs, particularly when it comes to transit.

“Those needs are holding our economy back,’’ Trudeau said.

Pointing to the Conservatives’ contribution to infrastructure, Trudeau said the government cut 90 per cent of the funding from its Building Canada Fund, a public infrastructure fund for the country.

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“Canadians who need work should be trained and put to work in the high-quality, well paying jobs that we know infrastructure projects create,’’ Trudeau said.

In a rallying cry, Trudeau also pointed out that Liberal party membership is now over 200,000, and half have joined for the first time.

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