From downsizing to ending long-term care for profit to discounts on electric vehicle purchases, parallel promises abound in Ontario’s NDP and Liberal platforms in a race in which leaders do not rule out working together.
Both NDP leader Andrea Horvath and Liberal leader Stephen Del Duca have said they will not support the government of Doug Ford’s progressive conservative minority.
Studies show that Doug Ford’s progressive conservatives are ready to be re-elected, but if they fail to win another majority, Croatia and Del Duca will have to make some decisions.
If they do not want to send voters back to the ballot box immediately, Horvat and Del Duca may choose to support or work with the other party in some form.
Del Duca said on Thursday that he was ready to work on a minority government scenario with any other party that shares his priorities, such as investing in public education and caring for the elderly.
“If … that means June 2 has come and the people of Ontario have asked all of us, regardless of guerrilla nature, to work together, then I will do my best to find a way to do it,” he said.
“I am happy to work with anyone who wants to deliver”
“Doug Ford does not have the capacity to lead this province. This is not to say that there may not be people here in my home community who may have voted conservative in the past who may share my passion for investing in public education. If this is true and I believe it is, then I am ready to work with anyone who wants less class and economic dignity, a revolution in adult care and a fight or a plan to combat the climate crisis. “
Del Duca spoke in Vaughan, Ont., About a plan to limit the size of classes to 20 students for all classes across the province and to hire another 10,000 teachers.
“For me, it’s not about politics, it’s about progress,” he said. “So I will be happy to work with anyone who wants to provide – in this case, for example – a firm limit of 20 for primary and secondary classes.”
Among the educational promises from the NDP is the promise to limit grades 4 to 8 to 24 students and to hire 20,000 teachers and educators.
Horvat will not speculate on Thursday about working with Del Duca, instead saying she is campaigning for prime minister to prioritize the public education system.
“No matter what Stephen Del Duca says now, he had 15 years to make sure we had smaller classes, and the Liberals refused to do so,” she said, referring to the Liberal government from 2003 to 2018. which worked Del Duca. as a cabinet minister for several years.
Similar promises of energy, LTCs and more
Liberals have not yet released their full platform, but the similarities in political promises do not end with education.
Both sides are committed to: canceling Highway 413, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050, expanding the protected green belt, offering concessions for electric vehicles, to plant millions of trees, to eliminate long-term goals for profit – urgent care, increase the salaries of personal assistance staff, repeal Bill 124 and fully cover medicines for the prevention and treatment of HIV.
Both say they will appoint an anti-racism minister, implement the Pay Transparency Act, legalize 10 paid sick leave, increase the minimum wage and allow concert workers to be classified as employees, among other elements.
During Thursday’s campaign, Ford said voters would have a clear choice on June 2. (Chris Young / The Canadian Press)
Colin MacDonald, director of public relations firm Navigator and a former Liberal official, said most voters do not spend their days looking at the specifics of each political promise.
“It comes down to how the leaders present themselves and how professional and well-designed the campaign and the candidates are, and how experienced and effective the government or the opposition is,” he said.
They base their decisions on either a few questions that are most important to them, how likely a party is to act on those priorities, or who is most likely to topple a government they don’t like, MacDonald said.
Both the NDP and the Liberals are focusing their messages on the last point, proving to voters that only they can beat Ford. The New Democrats say they are far ahead of incumbents, while Liberals have historically said they are more likely to win the election.
The similarities in the platform are probably not due to some calculated move that lays the groundwork for a coalition, said Carl Baldauf, vice president of the McMillan Vantage Policy Group.
Voters will have a clear choice, Ford said
And for Del Duca, there may be no advantage in entertaining such a scenario, he said.
“A coalition led by the NDP, which would put pressure on his party to consider, I think would be a challenge for generations for the Ontario Liberal Party if they were a junior partner,” said Baldauf, a former Progressive Conservative official.
During Thursday’s campaign, Ford said voters would have a clear choice on June 2.
“They will have a choice between a government that does things, or construction – again – roads, hospitals, schools, on the other hand, to return money to people’s pockets, to create hundreds of thousands of jobs,” he said.
“The other choice is to sit there and see what has happened for 15 years, they are destroying our province. They talk, talk, talk, create commission after commission, meeting after meeting. Nothing has been done. “
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