CityVote Day 8: Support for Ont. Liberals surges in Toronto

A recent poll suggests support for the provincial Liberals and NDP is on the rise in Toronto, as the two parties continue to issue green energy and job creation promises.

According to a telephone survey conducted by Forum Research, support for the Progressive Conservatives is waning in the province’s biggest city.

The survey of 1,046 people, which was conducted on Sept. 12 and is accurate plus or minus three per cent, 19 times out of 20, found:

-39 per cent said they support the Liberals (up from 34 per cent in June).
-30 per cent support the NDP (up from 26 per cent).
-24 per cent are behind the PCs (down from 34 per cent earlier this summer).
-seven per cent support for the Green Party.

Meanwhile, Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty was in Ottawa on Wednesday and travelled to Toronto for a campaign event at Women’s College Hospital. On the campaign trail Tuesday, he continued to push his green energy platform with a focus on solar power and the jobs it will create.

PC Leader Tim Hudak, who is campaigning in Stratford and Guelph on Wednesday, has vowed to scrap a multi-billion-dollar deal inked with Samsung to build green energy infrastructure across the province – a $ 7 billion plan that the Liberals say would create 16,000 jobs. The South Korean company would receive just over $100 million in taxpayer subsidies over 25 years.

Hudak called it a “sweetheart” deal and said it’s too expensive and will drive up hydro rates.

He also appeared to have shifted his focus away from attacking a Liberal jobs policy that would provide a tax credit up to $10,000 for companies that hire skilled new Canadians. Hudak calls the plan “affirmative action for foreign workers.”

The Tory leader said a Liberal government would increase taxes, drive up hydro bills and allow more eHealth-style waste. Hudak has vowed to cut government waste while protecting health and education investments.

On Wednesday, Hudak attacked the Liberals’ record on crime. He said inmates in provincial prisons receive yoga classes and cable TV and has promised to put convicts to work 40 hours a week, picking up garbage and cleaning graffiti.

McGuinty said he’s willing to review current prisoner programs. The Liberals said they didn’t fund the prisoner yoga sessions and cancelled cable privileges in April that were brought in under the Tories.

The Liberal leader also said his party has put 2,300 more police officers on the streets over the past eight years.

Hudak has also promised to alleviate the financial burden for working families by taking the provincial portion of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) off of hydro and home heating bills.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who was campaigning in St. Thomas and Ottawa on Wednesday, has also focused on providing financial relief for everyday Ontarians. She, too, has vowed to remove the HST from hydro bills and reduce it on gas.

Job creation has also been a main focus of the NDP campaign, with Horwath vowing to reward companies that hire, train and invest in Ontarians with tax credits. She’s also promising to help young people break out of long-term reliance on part-time jobs to help them find full-time positions.

She has also pledged, that if elected, the NDP will create the post of jobs commissioner – a position that would be aimed at protecting jobs and finding solutions when layoffs are announced.

Ontarians head to the polls on Oct. 6.

With files from The Canadian Press