McGuinty's opponents pick up the pace...

Are the opponents really picking up the pace or is the article just creating the impression this is so and trying to create a somewhat negative view of McGuinty--something easy enough to do! Hampton is certainly right that the school funding issue has diverted attention away from other important issues. However, this is hardly Tory's doing but is as much if not more the opposition's responsibility. After all, opponents of Tory feel it is a good attack point against Tory!



Friday » October 5 » 2007

McGuinty's opponents pick up the pace in Ont. election campaign

James Cowan, Lee Greenberg and Craig Pearson
CanWest News Service


Thursday, October 04, 2007


LONDON, Ont. - Ontario's election campaign has failed to tackle "real issues" facing voters because of the unwavering focus on religious schools, NDP Leader Howard Hampton said Thursday.

Hampton condemned his opponents as well as the media for not discussing substantive issues, instead wasting time on a matter that involves just 53,000 students. "I'm frustrated, because there are many problems, many questions in Ontario, but when I look at the media, there's only one question," he told a press conference in Hamilton.

Hampton's voice wavered with anger as he accused the media of ignoring issues such as child poverty and the quality of care at seniors' homes.

"I'm going to raise these issues that matter to working people and I'm going to raise them especially hard over the final days of the campaign. I just wonder if anybody is going to report on it," he said.

He attempted to soften his message after the outburst, telling supporters at a rally later in the day that the last week of the campaign represents a fresh opportunity.

"In many ways, (today) feels like the first day of the election campaign," he said. "People have finally emerged from a sleepwalk of talking about that one issue."

Indeed, both Hampton and Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory attacked their campaigns with renewed vigor on Thursday, accelerating their pace as they struggle to catch Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty, who has enjoyed a 10-point lead over his closest opponent in recent polls.

As he pushed to keep his party in the race, Hampton made a string of whistle stops on Thursday in Hamilton, Durham, Brantford, Ingersoll and London, sometimes stopping only long enough to address supporters in a donut shop parking lot.

For his part, Tory even squeezed in a last-minute extra campaign stop when he noticed a few extra free minutes in his schedule.

Tory also agreed with his NDP rival that important issues had been ignored in the campaign, largely because of the controversy over his plan to fund religious schools.

Despite attending only two public events on Thursday, McGuinty denied he has slowed his pace from the campaign's early days when he had three, and sometimes four, events on his itinerary. He said he was not trying to coast to victory.

"It's always interesting to get commentary about the style of campaign," he told reporters. "I'm running the same kind of campaign I ran in 1999, 2003 and now 2007. It's very positive and it's very focused. And we'll continue to keep it that way."

McGuinty has been criticized for failing to interact with voters on the campaign trail.

At a Guelph high school on Thursday, those complaints continued. McGuinty was criticized by at least two students who wanted him to take questions.

Instead, the premier took a stool in the middle of an auditorium and held forth for several minutes, asking questions that solicited one-word answers from the crowd.

As he left the event, 17-year-old Shanda Bosco asked McGuinty about a shortage of youth homeless shelters in the area.

"He said there's a lot of work to be done, but it's good to know that I care. And that did nothing for me," said Bosco. "He says he cares about us so much but he's not planning on doing anything about it."

Asked why he didn't open the floor to questions, McGuinty offered a vague response.

"Well, we had a good chance to chat," he said.

Critics have said the McGuinty Liberals lack new ideas and simply built a campaign capitalizing on the public uproar over Tory's plan to fund faith-based schools.

McGuinty, however, said his platform is a continuation of his 2003 mandate and involves continued investment in public services.

"So what I'm saying to Ontarians is, you know what folks, I think we've done a pretty good job moving this province forward," he said. "Why not keep moving this province forward?"

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have attempted to refocus on health care issues in the province and McGuinty's string of unmet commitments.

For their part, the NDP have focused their campaign on a handful of key commitments, such as hiking the minimum wage to $10 per hour.

National Post/Ottawa Citizen/Windsor Star

© CanWest News Service 2007








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