After many months of speculation about when Ernie Eves might call a provincial election, it’s a mystery no more after the premier announced yesterday that Ontarians will go to the polls Oct. 2.
In a press conference conveniently scheduled over the noon hour so that the electorate could watch his announcement while eating their lunches, the premier announced that there would be a 28 day campaign that would allow the electorate time to make up their minds.
“Politics is about choices,” he said in his live television announcement yesterday. “Ontario is a success story, but we’re at a crossroads in our history. [You] have a choice in a premier who will stick with you or a premier who is about high taxes, special interest groups and lost jobs.”
Eves, who became leader of the conservative party with the departure of Mike Harris, has been premier without a mandate from the electorate for a year and a half.
Though he has 22 years of public service experience, he was a rookie leader when taking the reins of the party but feels he has gained a great deal of experience during his tenure as leader–especially while dealing with crisis after crisis.
“Over the last several months Ontarians have looked to the premier for leadership,” he said of himself, referring to the SARS epidemic, the mad cow scare and the recent blackout.
However, some critics might say Eves has dodged calling an election because these crisis hit and then, disliking the political climate afterward, postponed things inevitably.
“One thing I found out is governing is tough,” Eves commented. “Your choices affect people. It’s not a place for on the job training.”
Eves spent a considerable amount of his speech pointing out differences between his conservative platform and the platform the competitor who pundits believe provided the greatest threat to Eves, leader of the Liberal party Dalton McGuinty.
“His choices are not your choices,” Eves said of McGuinty.
McGuinty, who was quickest out of the campaign blocks, was unavailable for comment as he’d already begun a trek to Kitchener along his campaign trail.
In an press release, however, he countered Eves’ challenge.
“It’s time for change,” said McGuinty. “People want to bring to an end the tired, cynical approach of a government whose priority is big giveaways to large corporations and private schools.
“People are looking to the Ontario Liberals’ positive plan that puts your interests first,” he continued, adding his campaign message is: “Choose change: choose the Ontario Liberals and a plan that will make a positive difference in peoples’ lives.”
“What the Liberals and Conservative want is simply a two horse race,” said Howard Hampton, leader of the provincial New Democratic Party and MPP for the Kenora-Rainy River riding.
Though the front runners seem to be dismissing the NDP at the moment, Hampton feels the race is still wide open.
He emphasizes that the conservative platform is very clear.
“If you want privatized hydro, hospitals, clinics, money to private schools and privatization of highways, then you can choose the conservatives,” said Hampton. “If you think the privatization of those essential services will cost us more, you can vote NDP.
“The Liberals can’t make up their minds,” he added, saying that the Liberals are sometimes for and sometimes against the privatization of these essential services.
“People have a fundamental choice,” Hampton continued. “On those fundamental issues, there is someone [the NDP] that is actually listening.
Hampton believes the majority of the electorate actually stands with the NDP on the fate of the essential services and keeping them in public hands, especially since the power blackout still casting a shadow on the election.
“People have made one decision [already], read the polls,” Hampton said of the fact that the Liberals are leading in the public opinion polls. “They’re not interested in having the conservatives back.
“The decision is what vision of the province do the people want to see?” he said, adding that he believes the NDP platform will be the most popular, especially in light of the recent crisis. “I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people in this campaign.
“The history of elections in Ontario for the last 70 years is the pundits have been wrong [a lot],” he said. “The reality of politics in Ontario is that the election campaign counts.”
Hampton also believes the long fought issues on the NDP plate will sway voters, like a hike in the minimum wage—which Hampton noted has been frozen for eight and a half years—and public auto insurance.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
