Jeff Leal optimistic for return to Queens Park

MPP echoes message to vote strategically

Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal is echoing Premier Kathleen Wynne’s message to vote strategically since the Liberals know they will not be re-elected on Thursday.

Wynne is advising voters to make choices that ensure a minority NDP or Conservative government is elected on June 7.

"The Premier's decision today was an admirable one for the people of Ontario,” says Leal, who has been part of a Liberal government since 2003, in a prepared statement.

“I believe the Premier was stating the obvious today: it's going to be critically important, whatever government is elected come June 7th, that there be Liberal representatives to hold that government accountable.”

Leal holds the Ministry of Rural Affairs and Small Business portfolios within Wynne’s cabinet. He has consistently defended unpopular decisions by the Liberals to implement minimum wage increases and invest in green energy.

"I'm the eternal optimist," Leal says of his re-election chances during an interview.

"It's no secret that some people have hard attitudes against the premier," he added.

"People still see me as a great guy. By the premier's announcement, they may feel like casting the ballot for the local guy who has worked with community groups to advance them forward."

Leal is being challenged by Conservative David Smith, NDP candidate Sean Conway, Green Party candidate Gianne Broughton, Stop Climate Change candidate Ken Ranney and Libertarian candidate Jacob Currier.

Trillium Party candidate Rod Roddick dropped out of the race, citing poor treatment by other candidates during debates. His name will still be on the ballot since he made his decision after the ballots were printed.

Peterborough has been a bellwether riding for decades, with voters always choosing candidates who match the provincial government since 1977 and federal governments since 1984.

Smith says he feels his chances are still good at convincing voters to choose him, regardless of Wynne's comments.

"From the canvassing I've done, I think I have a pretty good idea how it's going to shape up here locally," says the Conservative candidate, although he declined to share polling data.

"We'll see if I'm right on June 7." Smith has canvassed for previous Conservative candidates -Dean Del Mastro federally and Alan Wilson and Scott Stewart provincially -- and says reception at the doors has been the best he's seen.

"No one has sprayed me with a hose. No one has thrown anything at me and no one has slammed a door in my face," he says with a laugh.

He plans to keep his head down and keep working to get elected until the final ballots are filed on Thursday.

As for Wynne, Smith believes she recognizes that her low popularity is hurting Liberal candidates and she doesn't want to drag them down with her. He wonders if the party she has led since 2013 will keep official party status which requires eight seats.

Smith says he noticed Leal has limited what he says about Wynne at all-candidates debate. When asked about his party leader, Leal says Wynne gave him the privilege of serving as minister of rural affairs and food, but nothing else, Smith notes.

"I'll be forever in debt to her," Leal says during his interview, of the cabinet portfolios he managed. "She gave me the opportunity of a lifetime...I clearly enjoyed doing it."

He added that he felt Wynne was the clear winner of the May 24 leaders debate where she was the only contender who "looked like a premier."

Leal says the parties share common ground on many issues and he wishes they would advance more policy on that basis.