Tim Hudak roused a crowd of 700 supporters at Le Parc in Richmond Hill Wednesday night, touting his ideas for a stronger Ontario and admonishing the McGuinty government for what he believes were key errors that have spun the province further into a fiscal downturn.

It was Mr. Hudak's first Leader's Dinner since becoming PC Party leader about five months ago. Organizers say that it doubled last year's attendance.

He described his middle-class upbringing in the border town of Fort Erie, learning from his Czech-born grandparents' immigrant values. "These principles include rewarding hard work and ingenuity, which are the real engines of personal success and of Ontario's economic growth," he said.

Stagnated growth - and the Liberal government's misjudgments - were the themes of his speech.

"Ontario has always been the economic engine of confederation," he said. "But today that economic engine has stalled. Ontario is now a have-not province."

Mr. Hudak added that under the premier's watch, Ontario had slid into a $25 billion deficit and $65 billion in new debt - which is twice the size of former NDP premier Bob Rae's record, a 65 per cent increase since the previous premier, Ernie Eves - and larger than all of the provinces' debt combined.

While he noted that Dalton McGuinty puts the blame on the economic slowdown, Mr. Hudak accused the Liberals of financial mismanagement.

"The fact of the matter is that this deficit did not emerge overnight and it didn't have to be this way. While the revenue of the provincial treasury has slipped due to the recession, it is the expenditure side of the ledger that is responsible for this massive new deficit and debt burden. The government has, for years, engaged in unsustainable spending growth."

The PC leader denounced Liberal waste and overspending. He described e-health as "a billion dollar boondoggle where Liberal-friendly consultants got rich on sweetheart deals and Ontario families got nothing in return," he told this newspaper.

He also lambasted the McGuinty government's spending of $81 million for the Windsor Energy Centre, built to power a casino that Mr. Hudak claims as not yet produced a single watt of electricity.

As well, he criticized the premier for his $260 million incentive for France-based software giant Ubi-Soft to create some 800 jobs in Ontario. "That's over $300,000 for each job," said Mr. Hudak. "I mean, that's extravagant. I believe that money would have been better spent on the local economy for creating jobs through small business instead of corporate welfare grants."

A proactive option to renew prosperity would be to decrease government intrusion and encourage private enterprise, he said.

He criticized the McGuinty government for its controversial Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), which he says will increase costs on home heating, gasoline and stifle job creation.

"Families in Ontario are already working hard enough. They are forced to work longer hours, away from their families - yet find themselves falling further and further behind. They are increasingly forced to surrender more of their paycheques to taxes, bills and other fees." Seniors, he later told the media, will see hundreds of dollars in resulting additional taxes on mutual funds. "We need them to enjoy their security and retirement," he charged.

Following his speech he told the media how he'd help expand the job market, particularly with immigrants snarled in employment red tape, endeavouring to, "tear down those artificial barriers that are preventing talented new Canadians from putting into practice their experience and their skills. I think it's shameful to see a doctor, an accountant or an engineer talented in their field working in labour that doesn't come anywhere near matching their skills."