The Ontario election campaign entered its second day with a promise from NDP Leader Howard Hampton to do more for the city of Toronto.
Hampton, appearing on CBC Radio's Metro Morning, promised to lift the burden of provincial programs from Toronto, calling the Liberals as a "deadbeat" government for failing to cover 50 per cent of the cost of public transit.
Ontario Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty talks to students at Charles H. Hulse Public School in Ottawa on Tuesday, a day after the election campaign's official launch.
(Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)
"You can't have a good transit system if you force all of the cost onto the fare box in Ontario municipalities. We would also begin to upload the cost of Ontario disability support and the Ontario drug benefit plan and we'd complete that uploading within four years.
"So that would make a significant difference not just to Toronto, but to cities like Hamilton, or cities like the Durham region — a number of cities that have in fact been paying the province's bills since the McGuinty government refuses to pay its own bills," said Hampton.
The NDP leader continued to paint Premier Dalton McGuinty as a dishonest promise-breaker, saying McGuinty's actions toward parents with autistic children are a betrayal.
Hampton says the waiting list for treatment for autistic children has grown by 1,200 per cent since McGuinty took office in 2003 and that Intensive Behavioural Intervention, or IBI, can cost families thousands of dollars per month.
In the last election, McGuinty promised more funding for IBI and to lift the age cap so that children six and older can have access to IBI treatment. Instead, the Liberals fought parents in court over the issue.
Hampton slammed McGuinty's actions but refused to detail what the NDP plans to do.
Also on the campaign trail on Tuesday another issue emerged that separates the main party leaders: homework.
Conservative Leader John Tory said there should be a limit to the amount of homework assigned to elementary and secondary school students. According to Tory, 10 minutes per night, per grade, should do it.
That would work out to 10 minutes homework for a child in Grade 1, or two hours per night for a Grade 12 student.
But during a stop at an Ottawa school McGuinty said that's a bad idea.
He said the Liberals have their own plan for ending homework problems for Ontario's students by offering online assistance with a teacher and one-on-one homework help with a tutor.
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Ontario Votes 2007 »
- McGuinty wins massive majority, Tory loses seat
- Dalton McGuinty won a second majority government for the Liberals in Ontario on Wednesday night, a triumph for a party that earlier expressed fears of a drop to minority status.
- Ontario rejects electoral reform in referendum
- Ontario voters have rejected a proposed electoral reform that would have seen some provincial legislators chosen based on a party's share of the popular vote, results showed Thursday.
- Ontario voter turnout a record low
- The percentage of eligible voters casting ballots in Wednesday's Ontario election hit an all-time low despite changes introduced in an effort to boost turnout.
- Ont. Green party scores 8 per cent of vote
- No Green party candidates made it to the Ontario legislature in Wednesday's election, but that defeat was sweetened by a swell in their share of the popular vote, which more than doubled.
- McGuinty only leader not facing leadership questions
- Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty won re-election in Ottawa South and NDP Leader Howard Hampton again won his northern Ontario riding of Kenora-Rainy River. PC Leader John Tory was defeated.
District Profiles
More Ontario Votes Headlines »
- McGuinty wins massive majority, Tory loses seat
- Dalton McGuinty won a second majority government for the Liberals in Ontario on Wednesday night, a triumph for a party that earlier expressed fears of a drop to minority status.
- Ontario rejects electoral reform in referendum
- Ontario voters have rejected a proposed electoral reform that would have seen some provincial legislators chosen based on a party's share of the popular vote, results showed Thursday.
- Ontario voter turnout a record low
- The percentage of eligible voters casting ballots in Wednesday's Ontario election hit an all-time low despite changes introduced in an effort to boost turnout.
- Ont. Green party scores 8 per cent of vote
- No Green party candidates made it to the Ontario legislature in Wednesday's election, but that defeat was sweetened by a swell in their share of the popular vote, which more than doubled.
- McGuinty only leader not facing leadership questions
- Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty won re-election in Ottawa South and NDP Leader Howard Hampton again won his northern Ontario riding of Kenora-Rainy River. PC Leader John Tory was defeated.
