The federal government has announced a $1-billion investment into single-industry communities stung by economic hardship and plagued by high unemployment.

The announcement comes after increasing pressure to help workers in traditional industries such as forestry, fishing and manufacturing. Such industries have been hurt by the strong Canadian dollar and less demand from the United States.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the "community development trust fund" will provide money to create new opportunities for vulnerable communities and laid-off workers.

"The program is aimed at one-industry towns facing, or communities plagued by chronic high unemployment, or regions hit by layoffs across a range of sectors," Harper said at a press conference held at a New Brunswick lumber mill on Thursday.

Each province will be given a base one-time payment of $10 million, and each territory will be given $3 million. The rest of the fund will be shared on a per capita basis.

Harper said the program will support job training, create opportunities for workers and help communities form plans to create economic development. Specific plans will be decided on by each provincial government, he said.

"Our government has been prudently taking steps to prepare Canada for the uncertain times ahead," Harper told the news conference. "This fund will help vulnerable communities and their workers to adjust to these changes and to prosper."

The money for the fund will come from the federal surplus and will be announced as part of the next budget. If opposition parties vote against the budget and trigger an election, the fund will not proceed.

Liberal intergovernmental affairs critic Dominic LeBlanc said Thursday that the announcement was one big political ploy, ahead of an inevitable election.

"By tying this package to his next budget, Mr. Harper is engaging in a purely cynical political ploy -- designed so he can blame the woes of the forestry and manufacturing sectors on the opposition if they were to refuse to pass his entire budget," Mr. LeBlanc said in a released statement.

LeBlanc said Harper's government caused the problems by cancelling a Liberal forest strategy and negotiating a bad softwood lumber deal with the U.S.

Provincial reaction

The announcement was made with New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham in attendance. His province will receive $30 million through the Community Development Trust.

"These are indeed difficult times for the forest industry, workers and communities right across Canada. Forestry has long been the engine that drives the New Brunswick economy and the recent downturn has hurt our province," Graham said on Thursday.

"We must find ways to diversify our economy and move away from the concept of one-industry towns."

Other premiers reacted skeptically on the heels of the announcement. Ontario's Dalton McGuinty and Quebec's Jean Charest both questioned the validity of the announcement.

"I don't think forestry workers in Quebec deserve to be part of the election campaign," Charest told a press conference.

Charest also said the announcement -- worth about $200 million for Quebec -- equals about 10 per cent of what his province has already done for its forestry and manufacturing sectors.

While McGuinty thanked the prime minister for the funding, he said the announcement -- worth about $350 million for Ontario -- pales in comparison to the $3 billion Ontario has already invested in its ailing industries. He was also skeptical about the announcement's dependence to the passing of the budget.

"Either we agree as Canadians and as political leaders that the situation before us is somewhat urgent, or we don't," McGuinty told CTV's Mike Duffy Live.

"We're appreciative of the funding, but we'd like that to flow sooner, rather than later. And it should not be made conditional on the passage of a budget and possibly a subsequent election."

Both McGuinty and Charest said on Mike Duffy Live that the money can, and should, flow without attaching it to the budget.

The premiers of every province and territory will meet with Harper in Ottawa, to discuss the economy on Friday.

The location for the announcement, a mill south of Fredericton, focused the announcement on the forestry industry -- a sector particularly hard hit by exchange rate fluctuation and turmoil in the U.S. housing market.

Forestry employs about 300,000 people in 300 communities across Canada, according to the Forest Products Association of Canada.

Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, said the announcement was an insulting game Harper was "playing on the backs of unemployed forestry workers."

"Mr. Harper's announcement has nothing to do with saving the forest industry. It's not a Band-Aid for the industry, it's not even a stitch on the wound," Coles told CTV Newsnet.

He said the union had met with government officials to discuss what must be done to save the industry, but no one was interested in hearing their advice.

He said it will take closer to $10 billion in federal money to do any real good. That money should target research and development, develop new products, and invest in communities and workers hurt by the economic turndown.

"We're going ahead without the government, and they'd best get on board," he said.

Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, said Ontario's share of the $1-billion investment wouldn't be enough to help struggling manufacturers.

Hargrove said on Thursday that the money wouldn't even be enough to upgrade a single parts plant in Ontario.

The auto industry directly employs 150,000 people in Ontario, as well as 500,000 directly or indirectly across Canada.