The big political news of the day will probably be made in Ottawa with the return of parliament and here in Toronto at City Hall as the Executive Council looks to find its budget cuts.

That will probably leave the Ontario campaign searching for space on newscasts and buried on the back pages of the province's newspapers.

There must be some kind of political karma force emanating from Ottawa. All three leaders are either in Ottawa or heading to the eastern end of the province.

Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty is in his hometown this morning. He visited the children's hospital in Ottawa to remind voters that "Ontario babies are getting the best start in life with the most comprehensive newborn screening in Canada -- thanks to the Ontario Liberal Plan."

Less than an hour after the Liberal release went out the Progressive Conservative party responded with its take on the Liberals and child health. Under the headline, "McGuinty Sneaks Through Health Cut That Will Hurt New Mothers", the Tories recycled a Toronto Star story that the Liberals tried to cut a program called "Healthy Babies, Healthy Children."

Before heading to Ottawa, NDP leader Andrea Horwath tried to get the attention of the Toronto media by focusing on the financial pressures the city faces. With the budget deficit on every one's mind, Horwath went to a subway station to promise that an NDP government would work with the city of Toronto to freeze TTC fares for four years.

She asked the city to wait till the election is over "before making any final decision on transit cuts." The NDP are competitive in a number of Toronto ridings and with recent polls showing Mayor Ford losing support being the party that will stand up for Toronto programs in jeopardy might be a vote getter on October 6.

In Ottawa this afternoon Horwath will grab a hold of another photo opportunity. She'll say a few words when she meets with the Ontario Federal NDP caucus. No harm can come from drawing attention to the breakthrough the NDP made in May's general election.

Yesterday on YouTube the NDP released a short fifteen second ad and say they will be buying time on TV to air it. With upbeat music it is a fun take on the choice facing Ontarians. Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak also began his day in Toronto. He was sent to the west end of the city and with Etobicoke area candidates he repeated his mantra on smart meters. It is worth remembering that Etobicoke voted massively for its native son, Rob Ford, a year ago and the Conservatives have high hopes for a good showing there.

Hudak's visit to Etobicoke seemed to remind reporters travelling with him about Rob Ford. Hudak faced questions about the "Ford factor" in the Ontario election.

The headline on Tories release for this morning's announcement says the Tories will "unplug" mandatory smart meters. Hudak has held one event after another hammering home his position that the smart meter is an unfair tax. Over the weekend the Tories posted another video depicting McGuinty as the "taxman." No word if this ad, now on the PC's Facebook page will make it to a TV in your house.

For the past couple of weeks federal Conservative MPs have been out in force knocking on doors with provincial Tory candidates. Their schedules get more crowded now that the House of Commons is back in session. Hudak is headed to eastern Ontario for the rest of Monday but it doesn't seem he'll make it to Ottawa on this eastern swing. The Tories won't even tell me what is on Hudak's schedule for Tuesday. But ever your hard digging election source, I went to the Ontario PC web site and it tells me Hudak will be at the Ontario Plowing match that gets underway near Prescott.

It seems to me that right now federal politics and municipal politics are more interesting than the repetitive messaging going on in the Ontario campaign. I'm waiting for the campaign "game changer" and I just might have to wait a full week until the TV leaders' debate on September 27.