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'Doug Ford should apologize’: Ontario premier’s controversial comments on immigrants draw anger, disappointment

'Doug Ford should apologize’: Ontario premier’s controversial comments on immigrants draw anger, disappointment

Ontario Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, Christine Elliott, maintained Tuesday that she doesn't believe it's "necessary" for Premier Doug Ford to apologize for comments he made about immigrants a day earlier.

"What the premier was actually saying is that we need more immigrants in Ontario," Elliott said at a press conference on Tuesday.

While making an announcement in Windsor-Essex, Ford spoke about the shortage of workers in the province and said "new Canadians" have to "work [their] tail off" in Ontario.

If you think you're coming to collect the dough and sit around, not gonna happen. Go somewhere else.Ontario Premier Doug Ford

"You want to work, come here. We have so much work, we can't keep up with it right now."

When pressed about his comments, Elliott stressed that Ford was saying that "we need more people to do the jobs that we have available here in Ontario."

"We encourage more immigration, we need more people in Ontario, we need more people to come from other jurisdictions, we welcome that, and we know that when people come here they do work hard," Elliott said. "They do work hard for themselves, for their families, for their communities and so we welcome that."

"That is what the premier intended to indicate yesterday."

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath responded on Ford's comments, saying that the premier "chose to traffic in demeaning stereotypes about new Ontarians looking to build a better life for their families."

"He should apologize," Horwath wrote on Twitter. "But we've been here before. Sadly, this is who he is."

Ontario Liberal Party Leader, Steven Del Duca, also responded to Fords comments by calling his language "deeply disappointing."

"A Premier is supposed to unite Ontarians, not wedge us further apart," Del Duca wrote on Twitter. "As a son of immigrants, I know first-hand how people like my parents helped to build Ontario."

"Doug Ford should apologize for his callous comments."

Others in Ontario also took to social media to respond to what Ford said in Windsor-Essex on Monday.