Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak is proposing a radical revamp of Ontario’s “outdated labour laws” to strip unions of many powers and give businesses a freer hand.

Armed with a 20-page “white paper” policy book unveiled Wednesday at Queen’s Park, Hudak said the province’s restrictive rules are preventing jobs from being created here.

“It’s a debate we need to have in this country because I’m worried about the jobs we’re losing and I’m worried about a decline into Rust Belt status,” said Hudak.

“We need to actually modernize our labour laws to get them out of the 1940s and 1950s and to 2012 and beyond,” he said.

Many of the regulations he would like to scrap were enacted or bolstered by previous Conservative governments. Still, Hudak complained the situation has become untenable.

“In many cases union leaders have become so powerful that many employees in effect have two bosses — their actual employer and the people who run their union.”

To correct that, he would like union membership to no longer be mandatory and would outlaw the “forced paycheque contributions” unionized workers make to political causes.

A PC government would also end the closed tendering for government contracts and curb “the artificial restriction on the number of our youth able to enter the skilled trades” through apprenticeship changes.

Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, said the Conservatives want to make Ontario a “right-to-work” jurisdiction like the state of Indiana, where unions have been defanged and employees’ rights undermined.

Thomas said the Tory message to workers is: “Bend over and take it.”

“They’re out of their minds,” he said, noting the standard of living is higher in places where unions are thriving because workers earn more and have greater protection.

Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan said in a statement that Hudak’s scheme is “nothing but sour grapes” over the Oct. 6 election result.

“He blames labour unions and not his own bad policy for his crushing electoral defeat last year,” said Ryan, referring to the Working Families coalition of unions that spent $2.1 million on campaign ads attacking Hudak.

In their plan, the Tories also urge secret ballots in all union certification votes and allow private companies to compete with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to provide coverage.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Charles Sousa, a former labour minister, said it’s “regressive” to do what the Tories suggest.

“We’ve seen this story before. It’s right-wing, U.S.-model style initiatives,” said Sousa, adding destabilizing the WSIB won’t improve the lot of workers or employers.

“Some of their recommendations (are) very disruptive,” he said, emphasizing Ontario enjoys some of the best labour relations in North America with some 98 per cent of disputes settled without job action.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Hudak’s proposal would undo years of gains for Ontario workers and do little to generate employment.

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“It’s a mass gutting of labour laws in Ontario. It’s certainly not something I hear is necessary,” she said.

But Hudak said that “the more flexible the workplace, the greater demand there is going to be for workers.”

“If you have a flexible workplace where businesses can adjust to market conditions the more likely they’ll open up in that jurisdiction,” he said.