Campaign rhetoric stays vicious day after debate

Harper takes shot at Mulcair on NDP’s economic platform, as Wynne adds fuel to fire

OTTAWA— The nastiness from the debate sloshed over into the election campaign, with the Liberals accusing the Conservatives of creating a financial mess in Ottawa and Stephen Harper saying the NDP would wreck the economy “just like they once wrecked Ontario’s economy.”

For his part, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said he scored points Thursday night debating the economy with Harper.

“Mr. Harper finally admitted” that Canada is in a recession, Mulcair said as he campaigned in Toronto Friday.

“His economic plan is not working and because of that, Canada is in another recession and that is a shame for all Canadian families.”

Adding to the testy atmosphere around the 6-day-old campaign was Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s broadside against Harper.

Wynne said Harper had no interest in co-operating with her government to tackle Ontario’s problems.

“I have tried to work with him. The fact is that it has deteriorated, and what I’m saying now in a federal election campaign is that we need someone in that chair as prime minister who understands that working with provinces is important to the country,” Wynne said.

She said she does not fear reprisals from Ottawa over alarms she has raised about Harper’s “blatant disrespect” of Ontario and her provincial pension plan.

“I’m not sure how much more dysfunctional this relationship can get,” Wynne told reporters at Queen’s Park.

On Tuesday, Harper had suggested Wynne is not doing a good job as Ontario premier.

In the aftermath of the debate, Harper dodged questions about why he appeared to have agreed with Mulcair that Canada is in a recession.

“Eighty per cent of the economy is healthy and growing, but we have a contraction in the energy sector that everybody knows is because of low oil prices,” Harper said during a campaign stop in the backyard of a family home in the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill.

He said the economy has “up and downs” but Canada needs to stick with the Conservatives’ economic plan, which, he said, has provided long-term economic growth and steady job-creation.

Reminding voters of the economic problems of the early 1990s when then-NDP premier Bob Rae was in power, Harper said Mulcair’s party is “dangerous on economic issues.”

Harper was promoting the Conser- vatives’ recently enriched family allowance, the Universal Child Care Benefit.

He repeated his assertion that the NDP and Liberals would raise taxes and take away benefits from families.

“Justin Trudeau’s pitch is this: He will cut your taxes, but only if first he gets to raise your taxes. That’s what every tax-hiking politician says,” Harper said.

The Liberals have said they would raise taxes for the very rich and reduce taxes for middle-income earners. They would replace the Conservatives’ baby bonus with another plan intended to increase overall federal support payments for most families.

The NDP would raise corporate income taxes but cut small business taxes. Mulcair has said he would not touch the existing family allowance payments

Both the NDP and Liberals would scrap income-splitting on couples’ income taxes and cancel the recent increase in contribution limits for tax-free savings accounts. Both mea- sures mainly benefit a small, upperincome segment of the population, the NDP and Liberals say.

Trudeau said Friday he would steer clear of a budget deficit but it would depend on what a new government might find when the books are opened in Ottawa.

“We are committed to a balanced budget, but how long it takes to get there will depend on the size of the mess Mr. Harper has left behind,” he said during a stop in Eglinton-Lawrence riding.

“What we won’t do is pull billions of dollars out of the economy at a time when we’re in recession because that’s poor economic policy and it’ll hurt Canadians.”

Speaking in Peterborough, Mulcair couldn’t resist a dig at the city’s former Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, who was convicted of cheating on his campaign expenses in the 2008 election.

“The Conservative track record in this region with their past performance is something that makes people here really, strongly, desire change for the better,” Mulcair said, to laughter from the crowd.

Commenting on Thursday’s debate, Wynne said she was troubled to hear Harper say he wouldn’t meet premiers as a group, which she considers contrary to the idea of nationbuilding.

“(Harper’s) economic plan is not working and because of that, Canada is in another recession and that is a shame for all Canadian families.” THOMAS MULCAIR