Ontario Election: Polls Put NDP at Same Support as PCs

Ontario Election: Polls Put NDP at Same Support as PCs
(L-R) Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford, Ontario Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, and Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath during the second leaders' debate in Parry Sound, Ont., on May 11. Polls suggest the NDP and PC are tied for the most support in the Ontario election. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)
The Canadian Press
5/23/2018
Updated:
5/24/2018

TORONTO—Both the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals are setting their sights on the NDP as new polls suggest the party is tied for the most support in the Ontario election.

Premier Kathleen Wynne, whose Liberals have fallen to third place in recent polls, appeared to concede that it is not going as well as she might have hoped for her party, which has been in power for 15 years.

“I’m not under any illusion that this is not a challenging election for us,” she said during a campaign stop in Toronto on May 22.

Two recent polls suggest that the NDP now has the most support in the election, along with the Progressive Conservatives.

“It’s pretty clear that people have decided Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals are not going to form government next time around,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. “On June 7 there will be a new premier in the premier’s chair. The decision folks have to make at this point is: is that going to be Doug Ford or me?”

PC Leader Ford similarly framed the choice facing voters.

“People are going to have a very clear, very clear choice,“ he said. ”When it comes to June 7 they’re either going to vote in a radical NDP ... or they can vote for a Doug Ford PC government.”

The Liberals began the day by attacking what they call an “irrational” plan by the NDP to start decommissioning the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station this year. The long-term energy plan released by the Liberal government last year has Pickering operating until 2024, and they say shutting it down this year would put Ontario’s energy supply and the production of medical isotopes at risk.

Horwath said all parties agree the plant can’t operate forever.

“The difference is, we will begin the decommissioning process immediately, which will bring more jobs to the area—as opposed to the Liberal plan, which is to mothball that facility for 30 years and allow the next generation to figure out the decommissioning,” she said.

Ford used his main campaign event of the day to announce that a Tory government would keep Pickering open until 2024.

The Tories also held a separate news conference with two candidates to accuse the New Democrats of having several “radical” candidates, including Sept. 11 conspiracy theorists and a woman who is against wearing a poppy on Remembrance Day.

The Liberals are also continuing to hammer the NDP on their platform funding, after Horwath admitted over the weekend that an error would leave them with a deficit that’s $1.4 billion larger than originally planned.

From The Canadian Press