Opposition: Wynne’s holiday byelection call may backfire

Ontario’s byelection campaigning is in full swing, with opposition parties attacking the Liberals today at Queen’s Park.

Both the Tories and NDP say premier Kathleen Wynne’s decision to call a quick, mid-summer election was sneaky and under-handed, and may hurt her at the polls.

Monte McNaughton (PC): “They bought the last election as you are well aware of by cancelling two power plants at a cost of at least $600 million. They called these byelections, but they called these byelections before the auditor general’s report for August the 1st, and then she spent $100 million and more of taxpayers’ money to buy off the teachers’ unions.”

Michael Prue (NDP): “There has been a lot of public and editorial criticism across this province because it is looked upon as opportunistic. And indeed, it is.”

Not surprisingly, the Liberals disagree.

Eric Hoskins (Liberal): “I’ve got a lot more confidence in our voters than perhaps some in the other parties do. I ran a byelection myself in St Paul’s over the course of the summer and I felt that the level of engagement was tremendous. In fact a lot of people appreciated it because they had more time, that they could engage me more on some of the important policy issues.”

The five byelections will be held August 1.