TORONTO - Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty spent much of Tuesday's televised leaders debate defending himself against a unified attack by his two main rivals, suggesting to voters that the province would be worse off if the opposition were in power.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and New Democrat Andrea Howarth used every chance they got to hammer McGuinty on what they called his dismal record on jobs and tax hikes.

They attacked each other only occasionally, reserving their harshest criticism for the premier.

"I'm not saying that it's all sunshine and apple pie," said McGuinty, who has acknowledged throughout the campaign that with the state of the world economy, the province could once again face tough times.

But his message remained the same: things are getting better under the Liberals, so why risk a change?

"Don't compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative," he said after the debate.

The Liberals' jobs plan, largely focused around green jobs, is working, McGuinty said, adding that it's the Tories who would kill thousands of jobs by scrapping a contract with Korean giant Samsung.

Hudak dismissed the green jobs as "nothing but a shell game" which is simply driving up electricity bills.

"Your jobs plan has been a failure," Hudak said.

Horwath, who like Hudak spoke often about the people she has met and the places she's visited during the campaign, told McGuinty that stats about job creation meant nothing to the people of Ontario who "feel like you have ignored them for the last eight years."

"During that recession what you decided to do was hit people with an unfair tax that made things harder," she said.

McGuinty defended his tax record -- he has brought in both a health tax and the HST despite promising no new taxes -- saying he would not raise taxes this time around and Hudak should "stop saying" that he would.

"With all due respect, sir, nobody believes you anymore," Hudak replied.

The Tory leader didn't escape criticism, however, with McGuinty coming down hard on his use of the term "foreign workers" early in the campaign when speaking about a Liberal plan to give tax breaks to companies that hire professional immigrants.

"I'm not comfortable with this artificial division -- foreign students, foreign multinationals, and foreigners," said McGuinty, leading a rattled Hudak to interject.

"Dalton, you know that's not true," said Hudak, claiming he only used that term because it was the way the Liberals initially described it.

Hudak also jumped on McGuinty's plan to stop construction on a power plant in Mississauga two weeks before the vote, which McGuinty mumbled was just being relocated. The decision, he said, was because "things had changed."

"The only thing that's changed is that there's an election campaign," quipped Horwath.

The 90-minute faceoff was the only chance for voters to see the leaders of the three main parties at the same time before the Oct. 6 vote.

It also comes as polls suggest the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives are in a virtual dead heat, creating the potential for a minority government with the NDP playing kingmaker.

The debate was the first one for rookies Horwath and Hudak, and was particularly important for the two opposition leaders because it was their chance to introduce themselves to many voters just tuning in.

York University professor Bob Drummond said all camps will likely feel they got their point across, although there was nothing in the debate that would change anyone's minds ahead of the vote.

"(There were) no really bad performances or really excellent performances," said Drummond.

Drummond said Hudak was the most repetitive, McGuinty was a bit overenthusiastic and Horwath appeared the most personable.

"If anything, the premier was a little less effective than I thought he would be, but I think, on the whole, he did defend a lot of aspects of the government," said Drummond.

Hudak also spent most of his time attacking McGuinty, and made the fewest references to his platform promises.

Both opposition leaders also made sure to speak about their families, with Hudak mentioning his daughter Miller several times, as he stayed true to his campaign strategy to present himself as a family man who understands the struggles of everyday Ontarians.

Hudak and Horwath already faced off last week in a northern issues debate, which McGuinty declined to participate in.

Horwath couldn't resist taking a shot at McGuinty over missing the debate, offering the premier a geography lesson when speaking about a man she met in Dubreuilville.

"Don't know if you know where Dubreuilville is," she said. "It's near Wawa."