It’s been a quiet day on the Ontario election campaign. Each leader has a couple of events but it now seems the parties are waiting for the formal campaign to get going. It’s still a week until the writ drops. That happens 28 days before voting day so this year it will be on May 9. Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne will go to the Lieutenant-Governor for the issuing of the writ and then the campaign busses will roll out.
The NDP tried to put the focus on the GTHA this morning. Andrea Horwath gathered together many of her candidates running in ridings between Hamilton and Oshawa and filled a room with supporters. She chose a riding the NDP have their eye on for the event. The Liberals took Toronto’s Davenport riding from the NDP by 2,000 votes in 2014. It’s the kind of riding that could be a pick-up for the NDP if the polls are right and Ontarians want a change. Horwath again repeated her party’s platform of hope and opting for a “change for the better.”
Horwath answered questions on the NDP commitment to bring auto insurance rates down and trying to manage gas prices on a weekly basis. There were no details on how that would work or if it could work. It was another effort to get the attention of the media in the province’s largest market. By and large the media took a pass. Horwath will be in London, Ont. tonight for a town hall focusing on health care.
A few blocks away Kathleen Wynne chose tenant rights as her topic of the day. A provincial standardized rental lease comes into effect today. Wynne took on Doug Ford saying the Progressive Conservative leader wants to “end rent controls.” But reporter questions zeroed in on the Ford Greenbelt statements from yesterday. Wynne called Ford’s plan to release “a big chunk” of Greenbelt land for development “absolutely wrongheaded.” Wynne did have to concede that her Liberal government has opened Greenbelt designated land for development. She insisted that kind of adjustment was built into the original plan. Affordable housing will be a key issue for voters in the GTHA. Horwath made sure she put that front and centre this morning and Wynne said Ford’s Greenbelt proposal will “not solve any of the problems of affordable housing” in Ontario.
The backlash to Ford’s Greenbelt position forced the Conservative leader to walk back his Greenbelt statement completely. In a release this afternoon Ford says, “There have been a lot of voices saying that they don’t want to touch the Greenbelt. I govern through the people, I don’t govern through government.”
“The people have spoken - we won’t touch the Greenbelt. Very simple. That’s it, the people have spoken. I’m going to listen to them, they don’t want me to touch the Greenbelt, we won’t touch the Greenbelt. Simple as that.”
GTA reporters won’t get a chance to question Ford on his reversal today. He is using this pre-writ week to travel to northern Ontario again. The riding of Timmins-James Bay has been held by the NDP’s Gilles Bisson for almost 20 years. Bisson collected more than 50 per cent of the vote in 2014. The Liberals still don’t have a candidate nominated to run here. But Ford stayed true to his campaign strategy and didn’t mention the NDP in his remarks to the room in Timmins. His 12 minute speech, as posted by Timminstoday.com, was heavy on criticizing Kathleen Wynne. The Progressive Conservative party put out a release that the Conservatives “will introduce formal resource revenue sharing that ensures Northern Ontario receives fair benefits from Northern Resources.” In the speech, as posted, Ford made no mention of a revenue sharing plan for the north. After a rally in Sault Ste. Marie this evening Ford goes to Kenora and Thunder Bay on Wednesday.
