Ont. election on the homestretch
LEADERS MAKE FINAL PITCH TO UNDECIDED VOTERS
Ontario’s main party leaders used the final day of the provincial election campaign to make a last pitch to those voters still sitting on the fence. They warned of the economic perils of voting for their rivals, while playing up the social and fiscal advantages of voting for their parties.
True to much of her campaign, the NDP’s Andrea Horwath framed the ballot as a “stark” choice between her positive plan to help families create better lives and the cost-cutting proposals of Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservatives.
“Mr Ford’s plan is one that makes the rich even richer, will cut our public services and cause families to struggle even more,” Horwath said Wednesday in east-end Toronto, where the NDP hopes to nab some seats. “What I would say to folks is this: We can change our province for the better.”
Ford echoed Horwath’s message that voters have clear options in front of them, though he urged Ontarians to opt for his party.
“They’re going to have a very clear choice here,” he said in Burlington, Ont. “They’re either going to vote for the NDP that will destroy our economy, or they will vote for a PC government that will create prosperity in this province.”
The most recent polls suggest Horwath and Ford are running in a virtual tie, although vote distribution could favour the Tories. The Liberals, in office since 2003, have been lagging badly, surveys suggest.
Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne, who has already acknowledged her party won’t return to power, has been urging voters to deny either Horwath or Ford a majority by electing at least some members of her own party.
As such, Wynne has taken some fierce shots at the NDP by portraying them as rigid left-wing ideologues, and at the Tories for being hell-bent on slashing services while refusing to put out a proper election platform.
“There has been such a disruptive influence by having a leader of the Conservatives that really hasn’t laid out what he would do,” Wynne said. “People are still trying to decide.”
Ford’s lack of platform clarity and the sharp attacks from both Wynne and Horwath on one another has left some voters wondering whether it’s worth even casting a ballot.
Sean Evans, who lives in downtown Toronto, said he might simply abstain from voting. Despite being a life-long Conservative, Evans said he had little time for Ford — but no more time for either Horwath or Wynne.