Tim Hudak is hedging on whether his Progressive Conservatives will make Ontario a “right-to-work” jurisdiction — but he fired a Windsor-area candidate for opposing the controversial promise.

The pledge to axe the Rand Formula, which requires all workers at unionized shops to pay union dues, has been repeatedly made since 2012 but left out of Hudak’s latest “million jobs” plan and he wouldn’t reaffirm it Tuesday on the Feb. 13 byelection campaign trail in Thornhill.

Yet hours later, he fired Essex candidate Dave Brister for recent “unacceptable” tweets slamming the party’s anti-union push, raising questions as to whether the policy is being downplayed to increase Tory chances in another Feb. 13 byelection in blue-collar Niagara Falls.

“Ontario needs jobs and no obstacle will stand in the way of our efforts to put this province on the path to prosperity,” Hudak said in a statement released late Tuesday afternoon.

The Tory talk of scrapping the Rand Formula has provoked unions and worried some Conservatives who see it as an unnecessary fight with a spring general election possible and Liberals already under fire for the scandal over cancelled power plants.

Brister, who was running in a riding now held by the New Democrats, said he refused to change his stance.

“I was asked to recant my opposition to RTW legislation in exchange for retaining my position & I refused to do so,” he tweeted under his handle @davebristerpc.

Earlier, at the Raywal cabinet factory in Thornhill, Hudak was asked repeatedly if his party will proceed with a right-to-work platform, but would not give a definitive answer

“We’re modernizing our labour laws,” he said standing beside Thornhill candidate Gila Martow, an optometrist.

“I’m going to have more to say about exactly how we do that,” said Hudak, who has previously stated “this is all about workers’ choice.”

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The NDP charged Hudak is playing games in the byelection races.

“Tim Hudak will say and do anything for a vote,” said NDP House Leader Gilles Bisson. “I’m not surprised he’s running from his own policies as he’s only interested in delivering results for himself, not the people of Ontario.”

Hudak said his plan to lower taxes and the provincial debt, train more skilled trades workers will encourage companies to locate or expand in Ontario and create “better jobs with more take-home pay.”

Ontario has already lost more than 300,000 manufacturing jobs in the last several years, he added.

“If we don’t modernize our labour laws we’re going to see more jobs going to Michigan and Indiana. I want to see us keep our manufacturing base,” he added, in a nod to two states that have right-to-work laws.

Hudak’s visit to the riding, formerly held by Conservative Peter Shurman, came a day after Premier Kathleen Wynne campaigned with her candidate Sandra Yeung Racco as voting day draws closer.

The Tory leader promised an extension of the Yonge subway line north into the riding, and praised Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s trip to Israel.

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“I am proud of it and I am proud that Canada is an unapologetic champion of Israel . . . the one true democracy in the Middle East and defending its right to exist,” he said after a private tour of the Raywal factory in the heavily Jewish riding.

“It’s great we’re building a stronger partnership with Israel.”

The NDP is running Cindy Hackelberg, who was also the party’s candidate in the 2011 provincial election.