TORONTO - The New Democrats say there are even tougher times ahead for Ontario as the province continues to take the brunt of job losses in Canada.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says the new unemployment figures are frightening and accuses the Liberal government of sitting on its hands as more jobs disappear.
Statistics Canada reports that another 82,600 jobs were lost in February, with the biggest decline in Ontario.
The province shed 35,300 jobs last month, mostly in construction and finance, insurance, real estate and leasing.
That pushed the province's unemployment rate to 8.7 per cent, one per cent higher than the national average and the highest Ontario has seen in 12 years.
The job-loss figure was an improvement from January, when Ontario lost a staggering 71,000 jobs -- its largest drop in over three decades.
Windsor continues to be among hardest-hit cities in Ontario, with its unemployment rate rising to 12.6 per cent in February.
Since October, over half of the country's job losses were in Ontario, even though it only has 39 per cent of the country's total working-age population, Statistics Canada noted.
