Stiles unveils plan for Toronto as Crombie asks NDP voters to decamp to Liberals
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles was in Toronto on Tuesday appealing to voters in a city that will be key to the party’s fortunes on election day, as the Progressive Conservatives push to flip New Democrat ridings elsewhere in the province.
Stiles was in the NDP-held riding of Spadina–Fort York to detail her “plan for Toronto,” which includes big ticket commitments aimed at renters and transit riders. She made the announcement just moments before Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie once again directly appealed to traditional NDP voters to unite behind her as the only way to topple the PCs.
In a speech to supporters, Stiles took aim at PC Leader Doug Ford and accused his government of unilaterally imposing its will on Toronto. She cited the $2.2-billion deal with a foreign-owned spa company to redevelop the west island of Ontario Place, and the sudden closure of the Ontario Science Centre by the Ford government last summer.
“Doug Ford has spent the last seven years treating Toronto like his personal political playground — settling scores, meddling in municipal affairs and making life worse for the people who actually live here,” she said.
The NDP’s platform for Toronto includes a promise to bring back rent and vacancy controls, prohibiting landlords from implementing above-guideline rent increases and stopping rent hikes between tenancies. In Toronto, roughly 50 per cent of residents are renters.
During her riff on rent control, Stiles took a swipe at Crombie, who has pledged “phased-in rent control” but offered few details about what that policy would look like other than to suggest it would be similar to Manitoba’s system.
“I’m really proud that we are the only party talking about bringing back real rent control. Honestly, the Liberals, they don’t seem to realize there are tenants in this province and those tenants are the folks that are losing their homes and ending up in our communities in encampments,” Stiles said.
The New Democrats are also promising to upload 50 per cent of the TTC’s operating costs back to the province. Stiles billed it as “the only way to make the TTC more affordable and more reliable.”
PCs take aim at NDP seats
The NDP held nine of Toronto’s 25 seats when the legislature dissolved ahead of the election campaign. That’s roughly 32 per cent of the party’s total seat count at Queen’s Park. The New Democrats will need to hold on to those Toronto ridings if they hope to return to the legislature as the Official Opposition.
Polling aggregates suggest the PCs have a commanding lead over both the NDP and Liberals in other regions of the province. Ford has said repeatedly that this election is about securing an even bigger mandate from voters, and that means flipping more ridings to blue.
If Ford’s campaign schedule is any indication, the PCs believe the NDP is vulnerable in southwestern Ontario ridings like Windsor West — where Ford kicked off his campaign — and London–Fanshawe and London North Centre. Ford has also spent considerable time in the Niagara Region, where the New Democrats held three seats.
Ontario’s four major party leaders went head to head in the final debate before the provincial election. Check out the highlights.
The PC campaign frequently touts its growing list of union endorsements and highlights inroads it has made with blue-collar voters, considered the NDP’s conventional voter base.
The PCs are also targeting traditional NDP strongholds in northern Ontario, where the party made notable gains in 2022. Ford was supposed to begin a 48-hour tour of the north on Tuesday in Sault Ste Marie, but had to postpone the trip because of delays at Pearson airport.
Crombie appeals to NDP voters
The Liberals have similarly launched a campaign strategy to try to bite into the NDP’s vote share.
Crombie is now explicitly appealing to NDP voters, saying she is the only viable alternative to Ford.
“I’m reaching out today to NDP voters, and I’m asking them, if you want to change our health-care system, please vote for Ontario’s Liberals, and together, we can change the government,” Crombie said Tuesday at an event in Hamilton, a city with deep NDP roots.
“We have the momentum. We have the wind at our sails, but we can’t make that change without your support.”
Crombie made the same pitch during her closing statement at Monday night’s leaders debate and in post-debate scrums afterward.
Stiles said the Liberals’ goal is just to get official party status.
“That just tells you everything you need to know about that party, where they’re at,” she said.
“Their path is they’re just trying to make party status. Look the truth is, my focus is, and continues to be, flipping blue seats to orange.”
Stiles added that she’s trying to appeal to all Ontarians, and she believes there are many Liberal voters who don’t see “their values and priorities” reflected in Crombie’s leadership.
Political parties require at least 12 seats in the legislature to get party status, which gives them more resources and more opportunities to ask questions and participate in debates, and at dissolution the Liberals held nine.
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