ELECTION WRAP
Kathleen Wynne accuses the NDP of appropriating part of the Liberal budget, Tory Tim Hudak attacks ‘corporate welfare’ and the NDP’s Andrea Horwath talks in Ottawa about vote-splitting, reports Katrina Clarke.
1. PC Leader Tim Hudak spoke out against what he called “corporate welfare” during a speech in London, Ont., Friday. Hudak said grants and subsidies to big business are “economically disastrous and morally wrong.” Hudak said no credible economic literature shows a province or country can subsidize its way to prosperity. He criticized the Liberal government for caving in to “ransom” from Chrysler and wasting money on Kellogg’s. He pledged that, if elected, the Progressive Conservatives will make Ontario the lowest corporate tax jurisdiction in North America.
2. Andrea Horwath said she isn’t concerned about left-leaning Ontarians resorting to vote splitting to keep the Progressive Conservatives out of power. At a campaign stop in Ottawa, the NDP leader said people should know better than vote Liberal by default, saying it amounts to rewarding the current government’s “bad behaviour.”
3. Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne accused the NDP of ripping off part of the her party’s spring budget — the same blueprint they rejected, triggering the election. The New Democrats unveiled their campaign platform Thursday, vowing to raise the corporate tax rate and offer financial help to hydro users, family caregivers and students if they form the government. While some ideas are similar to those in the Liberals’ budget, Wynne criticized the NDP plan, saying it would jeopardize Ontario’s position as the top jurisdiction in North America for direct foreign investment.
4. Wynne told an English-as-asecond-language class in Toronto about the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and how it allows her as a gay woman to live without fear. She went on to talk about her belief that voters face a “stark” choice on June 12. Wynne said the Progressive Conservatives’ plan starts with “cutting and tearing down much of what has been built.”
5. Ontario drivers will continue to fork out cash for the Drive Clean vehicle emissions test program if the Liberals win. On Friday, Wynne said her party would do whatever they could “to make sure the air is clean.” The Liberal government recently lowered the price from $35 to $30 for the tests on light-duty vehicles at least seven years old. The Progressive Conservatives have said they would kill programs that “don’t offer good value,” such as Drive Clean, which critics say has outlived its usefulness. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has said she is open to looking at whether the program is delivering.