Libs revisit minimum wage, climate change

Seen as ploy to gain political points against the Conservatives and the New Democrats

TORONTO — Ontario’s governing Liberals forced a new debate on minimum wage and climate change in the legislature in an apparent attempt to back the embattled Progressive Conservatives, who are in the middle of a leadership race, into a corner on wedge issues.

Pushing the legislature to revisit the two issues, which are already passed into law, seems equally aimed at seeping support from the New Democrats, said Myer Siemiatycki, a professor of politics at Ryerson University in Toronto.

“I see it at as a political intervention directed at possibly dual targets,” Siemiatycki said Thursday.

“I think the Liberals are aiming this in part at that fairly significant swath of voters who could go either NDP or Liberal and trying to shore up the perception of the Liberals as the only party that can stand in the way of a Conservative election and the only party that can actually deliver a progressive political agenda,” he said.

At the same time, he said, “this is kind of a provocation to require the Conservatives to take a stand that would identify them around some pretty core issues as being opposed to a progressive orientation.”

Liberal House Leader Yasir Naqvi denied trying to stir tensions within the Oppositions, saying both issues are worth revisiting ahead of the June election.

“I think it’s a very important debate to have to understand where all members and all political parties stand,” Naqvi said.

The Conservatives, meanwhile, said the move is nothing but a political ploy by a government “desperate” to stay in power.

“Even when you look at the chaos within our party, this is a government that’s trailing by 25 points in the polls,” said Tory legislator Todd Smith.