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Provincial Leaders Kick Off Election Campaigns

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PC leader Doug Ford’s reelection bid is now underway as the campaigning toward the June 2 election officially got underway on Wednesday.

Addressing supporters in Etobicoke last night, Ford says he’s ready to back his campaign slogan, Get it done.

“Friends, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work and say yes to more jobs, more homes and more roads, more highways and public transit, and more money back into your pocket,” says Ford.

Ford labelled the NDP as ‘the party of no’ while criticizing the Liberals for wasting tax dollars, leaving health care on the brink of collapse, and stalling the economy while they were in power.

Supplied photo Ontario NDP

NDP leader Andrea Horwath warns of more cost-cutting if the PCs receive a second mandate.

“So the first job, the most important thing that we can do in this election is to make sure Doug Ford does not get a second term so that the Conservatives can’t make even more cuts that hurt people,” says Horwath.

Horwath says the NDP is the best party to get that done.

She notes the party finished first or second in one hundred ridings in the last election.

Photo courtesy Ontario Liberal Party/Facebook

Education was top of mind as Liberal leader Steven Del Duca kicked off his campaign.

He is promising funding that will lead to the construction of 200 new schools and the upgrade of 4,500 others.

He says the $10 billion will come from cancelling the planned construction of Highway 413 in southern Ontario.

“From my perspective as a dad with kids in the system, the fact that Doug Ford wants to invest at $10 billion on the 413, instead of making sure that our kids attend state of the art schools really underscores how frankly he is not up to the job,” says Del Duca.

Del Duca says he would invest that $10 billion back into the education system within the first 100 days of taking office.

Supplied photo/Green Party of Ontario

While the other party leaders will travel by bus across Ontario, Green Party leader Mike Schreiner is going electric.

He unveiled his campaign and the electric vehicles he will use to tour the province.

Schreiner says running to earn your vote, not buy it.

“Gimmicks are not going to solve the challenges we face in this province. Gimmicks are not going to address the climate crisis and leave a livable future for our children. Gimmicks are not going to provide the housing solutions,” says Schreiner.

On the campaign trail today, Horwath will unveil her party’s plan to expand health care coverage in the province while she campaigns in the Scarborough area.

Del Duca makes a campaign announcement of his own in Woodbridge.

Schreiner talks housing in Waterloo and takes part in a candidate’s debate in his Guelph riding tonight.

The itinerary for PC leader Doug Ford was not immediately available.

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Climate change key takeaway from federal leaders’ debate

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The stakes were high as the five major party leaders fought to earn your vote.

Climate change, reconciliation, and Afghanistan were key themes during Thursday night’s leaders debate.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole slammed Justin Trudeau for calling an election as the deadline to withdraw troops loomed.

Meantime, Trudeau took a shot at the Conservatives over their position on climate change.

“You can’t have a strong economy unless you tackle climate change,” Trudeau said. “Mr. O’Toole can’t even convince his party that climate change is real because they voted against that.”

Trudeau was pointing to the Conservative party’s convention earlier this year when members voted down inserting wording in their policies that climate change is real.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole admitted his party came up short on its climate plan heading into the last election.

“We put our plan out in April because we had to restore some trust on this issue to make sure we can show Canadians we can get emissions down and get the economy working again,” said O’Toole. “That is key.”

Meantime, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says Indigenous people have been let down too often.

“How do you restore trust in a country as wealthy as ours that still does not provide clean drinking water to every single Indigenous nation?,” Singh asked. “It starts by actually walking the path of reconciliation. Not with empty words, but real action.”

Green Party Leader Annamie Paul says she wants Indigenous people to be able to make decisions for themselves.

Election Day is September 20.

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Ontario Leading The Way In COVID-19 Testing

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Ontario is making significant progress in testing for COVID-19.

Premier Doug Ford says they have beat their target of 16,000 tests per day by May 6th.

“By May 1st we hit 17,000 tests a day. The good news is we are leading the country in daily testing volumes, both in total tests and per capita.”

Ford says over 342,000 tests have been completed in Ontario to date.

“We rapidly increased testing in our long-term care homes. We’re testing those in group homes, homeless shelters, women’s shelters and other congregate settings.”

Health Minister Christine Elliott says “We did so by forming a province-wide COVID-19 testing network that includes over 20 organizations. This has allowed us to eliminate the backlog of 11,000 tests and turn our focus to testing priority groups and vulnerable populations.”

Premier Doug Ford adds “This important milestone provides a strong foundation for gradually reopening our economy and getting people back to work, while protecting the health and safety of all Ontarians.”

However, he stresses they still have a lot of work to do.

 

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Leaders Promise Environmental Improvements

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The federal party leaders are shifting their attention to climate change on the election trail.
Speaking ahead of a Climate Strike march in Montreal, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau promises to help the environment if he’s re-elected.
“What we’re going to do is plant 2 billion trees over the next decade in our cities and in other places that need it, work with Indigenous communities, and support forest regeneration after wildfires.”
There are more funding promises from Jagmeet Singh on day 17 of the federal election campaign and the so-called Climate Action Day.
The NDP Leader says he’s creating a new $40-million fund to protect the coastlines.
“This fund is going to protect salmon, help us reinforce the Coast Guard, help us continue the work […] on making sure abandoned vessels are cleaned up, because they pose a risk of polluting the coastline,” Singh explains.
The federal Conservatives say they will reduce emissions by cutting down on the time we spend in traffic.
Party leader Andrew Scheer says a Conservative government would do that by making progress on infrastructure projects.
“It will be a very simple question: will this project reduce commute times? If the answer is yes, then that project will be put to the top of the list on the approvals process.”

There are 24 days until the federal election on October 21.