toronto.ctv.ca
Ontario Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty says he is willing to accept a
minority government after next month’s election, and he won’t change his
campaign strategy.
"The electorate will do its own thing in its own course and I accept that.
That’s fine by me," McGuinty told reporters in Barrie, north of Toronto, on
Tuesday morning.
His comments came a day after NDP Leader Howard Hampton said he would only
support a minority government if the premier adopts his party’s six campaign
commitments.
The NDP has focused its campaign on reducing the health tax, increasing the
minimum wage, reducing tuition fees, better protecting the environment, better
education funding and improving the health-care system with better senior care
and more doctors and nurses.
Bringing in those policies would cost about $9.1 billion, the NDP estimates.
McGuinty insisted he has no plans to alter his campaign strategy to try to
form a majority government.
"I will stay absolutely focused in a very intense way on the concerns that we
share with Ontario families,” he said Tuesday, which marks the halfway point of
the election campaign. "We want to keep going in that direction.”
McGuinty’s remarks came after he announced his government would restore GO
service between Barrie and Toronto by the end of the year if re-elected.
"This community is growing," he told a local Barrie radio station. "It’s
growing because it offers a quality of life that is second to none, but what
we’ve got to do is we’ve got to make sure that all the folks that are coming
here don’t compromise that quality of life, so we want to get ahead of it and
plan for it."
McGuinty said his party’s $17.5 billion transportation plan will pay for the
$250 million expansion.
The Liberals say there will be four GO trains a day running between the two
cities.
Barrie hasn’t had GO train service since the provincial government cut the
service in 1993.
Two-thirds of McGuinty’s transportation plan — which calls for 95 per cent
of the 52 construction projects to be completed by 2020 — will be paid for by
the province. The province has asked the federal government to kick in the
remaining third, but the Liberals say they haven’t received a response.
The transit projects focus mainly on subway and light rapid transit lines in
the Greater Toronto Area.
Hampton hammers McGuinty’s record
Hampton, meanwhile, campaigned in Sault. Ste. Marie on Tuesday, reminding
voters of McGuinty’s broken promise to not raise taxes bye even one cent.
At a press conference, Hampton played a tape from the 2003 election debate
during which McGuinty made the pledge.
Hampton is pledging to phase out the health tax for low-income earners and
reduce it for middle-income taxpayers.
"The McGuinty health tax is grossly unfair to low and moderate income
families, especially women whose average annual income is just over $25,000 a
year," Hampton said.
"McGuinty’s health tax increased personal income taxes for average families
by 24 per cent, while those with incomes greater than $200,000 pay only three
per cent more."
The NDP leader delivered his message while standing behind three large
buckets overflowing with 45,000 pennies, which he said represented the money
McGuinty has taken every year from low-income taxpayers as a result of the
broken promise.
Hampton vows to would raise corporate taxes to make up for the tax cut so the
health-care system doesn’t suffer. He also pledges to bring in a new tax bracket
for taxpayers that earn more than $150,000 a year.
Tory highlights autism
Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory campaigned in London, where he
visited the families of autistic children. He promises to make a difference for
children with autism, including early intervention plans.
"There are treatments available now that have proven effective in helping
children with autism develop and integrate, effective treatments that are still
too expensive for most families to afford," Tory said.
The Conservative leader promises to quickly wipe out a backlog of 1,000
autistic children in Ontario who are waiting for treatment.
Tory says there were only 89 children on the waiting list four years ago when
McGuinty promised parents he would get their kids the treatment they needed.
He says the Conservatives would immediately increase spending by $75 million
to help autistic children and their families, and would work with schools to
allow therapists into classrooms.
Tory credits New Democrat Shelley Martel for leading the charge on autism. He
said he would be pleased to have her work on the issue for a Conservative
government.
The NDP have announced a plan to provide blanket therapy for all autistic
children who need it in their classrooms.
Ontario voters go to the polls on Oct. 10.
With a report from CTV’s Paul Bliss and files from The Canadian Press
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