Attacks on New Democrats rise as polls have them tied for lead

Ontario’s opposition parties seemed to write off the governing Liberals nearly halfway through the province’s election campaign, as new polls suggest the Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats are tied for the most support.

Two recent polls suggest that the NDP now has the most support in the election, along with the Tories. In the months before the campaign, polls had shown the Tories with a hefty lead, followed by the Liberals and the NDP.

“It’s pretty clear that people have decided Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals are not going to form government next time around,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

“On June 7 there will be a new premier in the premier’s chair. The decision folks have to make at this point is: Is that going to be Doug Ford or me?”

Ford similarly framed the choice facing voters.

“People are going to have a very clear, very clear choice,” he said. “When it comes to June 7 they’re either going to vote in a radical NDP ... or they can vote for a Doug Ford PC government.”

Their assessment appears accurate, said Genevieve Tellier, a political science professor at the University of Ottawa.

“The NDP is gaining momentum and so they are becoming the main opposition or alternative ... to the Conservatives, so basically the fight would be between the two,” she said, although the battle in Toronto appears to be between the Liberals and the NDP.

As the NDP’s popularity appears to rise, so has the attention from its competitors, who have increasingly focused their attacks on the party in recent days. The Liberals began Tuesday by attacking what they call an “irrational” plan by the NDP to start decommissioning the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station this year.

The long-term energy plan released by the Liberal government last year has Pickering operating until 2024, and they say shutting it down this year would put Ontario’s energy supply and the production of medical isotopes at risk.

Horwath said all parties agree the plant can’t operate forever.

“The difference is, we will begin the decommissioning process immediately, which will bring more jobs to the area — as opposed to the Liberal plan, which is to mothball that facility for 30 years and allow the next generation to figure out the decommissioning,” she said.

Ford used his main campaign event of the day to announce that a Tory government would keep Pickering open until 2024.