ABOVE: Fear and loathing (and waiting) on the campaign trail – Global’s Alan Carter has the latest on where the candidates will be Tuesday, and what they’ll be talking about
TORONTO – The three main party leaders have a relatively light day of campaigning planned.
Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne speaks at the Bloomberg Economic Summit in Toronto this morning and visits a Mississauga business in the afternoon.
Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak is at the Canada 2020 #OnVotes Speaker Series in Ottawa, while the NDP’s Andrea Horwath has two events in Toronto.
And Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner is to launch the party’s platform for the June 12 election today at Queen’s Park.
Electricity was the hot topic on the campaign trail Monday as the opposition parties promised help for consumers dealing with soaring electricity bills.
The Tories targeted generous subsidies under the Liberals’ Green Energy Act, while the New Democrats promised to remove the provincial portion of the HST from electricity bills.
The Liberals are particularly vulnerable on the energy file after cancelling two gas plants prior to the last election in 2011 at a cost to taxpayers of up to $1.1 billion, and with a planned 33 per cent hike in electricity bills over the next three years.
READ MORE: Wynne says Hudak’s ‘frightening’ plan would lead to recession
Visiting a factory in his own riding in the Niagara Peninsula, Hudak also promised to reduce the number of government electricity agencies, and said he’d cut the “bloated” bureaucracy at Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation to help get electricity rates low enough to generate 40,000 new jobs.
WATCH: Tim Hudak says balancing the budget is priority number one in his job creation plan
Campaigning in Thunder Bay, Horwath said she too would merge some of the electricity agencies and would want to eliminate “waste in the bureaucracy.”
Premier Kathleen Wynne said electricity rates went up mainly because the government had to invest billions of dollars to repair and upgrade the electricity system after years of neglect, and defended the Liberals’ Green Energy Act.
Comments