McGuinty defends his record in Ontario leaders' debate

Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty faced repeated attacks from his political opponents as he defended his past four years as premier of Ontario during Thursday night's leaders' debate.

Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty responds to a question during the Ontario election debate on Thursday in Toronto.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

The leaders fielded questions from the public and moderator Steve Paikin on topics ranging from faith-based schools, public transit and health care, to municipal funding woes and whether Ontario needs nuclear power.

Nevertheless, the leaders themselves, not the issues, were the main topic of debate.

Conservative Leader John Tory and NDP Leader Howard Hampton did their best to paint McGuinty as a promise-breaker who did little to move the province forward until the final minutes of his term, leaving Ontario weakened.

"You kept so few of your promises it’s destroyed the credibility of politicians — all politicians," Tory said at one point.

Broken promise

Frequently drawing on his childhood and experience as one of 10 children, McGuinty was quick to confront his most memorable broken promise: imposing a $2.6-billion health premium despite a promise not to raise taxes.

The premier looked into the camera and described how his father instilled in him the importance of keeping his word.

"I made a tough choice," McGuinty said, and it certainly wasn't designed to boost his popularity, he added. "There was a $5.6-billion deficit" left by the previous Conservative government, a deficit he said came as a surprise to him when his party took power.

Conservative Leader John Tory attacked Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty as a promise-breaker during the provincial election debate Thursday.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

He said Tory has gone around the province "calling me a liar in everything but name," ignoring the fact that it was the Conservatives who "stuck" Ontario residents with the massive deficit.

Hampton wondered where McGuinty had been when several economic experts had said — before the Liberal leader began making promises he would later break — that the incoming government would face just such a deficit.

Health premium

The health premium was but one of many broken promises, Tory added, citing coal-fired power plants that are still open and autistic children going without funding for special needs classes. "Your word isn't just important, it's everything," he said.

"You have allowed us to become last in so many areas," Tory added later, citing a Bank of Nova Scotia study that he claimed put Ontario in last place in job creation and economic growth.

He accused McGuinty of increasing the number of split grades in a bid to reduce class sizes in schools, and of allowing criminals to "thumb their nose" at the justice system.

Tory devoted most of his time to attacking McGuinty, and much less pushing platform policies, such as his promise to extend public funding to private faith-based schools and to devote 100 per cent of the provincial gas tax to roads and public transit.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton stayed with his message, repeating elements of his party's platform during the election debate Thursday night.
(Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)

McGuinty painted a rosier picture of the province and accused Tory of being negative.

He repeatedly said that while work remained to be done, things were better under the Liberal watch than they had been under his Conservative predecessors and the NDP before them.

"We've made a lot of progress," McGuinty said more than once, claiming reduced wait times for health services as a result of the health tax, and citing four years without any school disruptions from job action. He also pointed out his recent commitment to share two cents of the gas tax with municipalities.

Hampton stays on-message

Hampton threw intermittent jabs McGuinty’s way, but stayed mostly on-message, repeating the platform he has been releasing plank-by-plank in recent weeks, such as promises to fix the school funding formula, boost the minimum hourly wage to $10 immediately and offer a health tax rebate to low-income families.

Although the subject of promises was raised continually, all three leaders opposed the idea of a law, such as one in place in British Columbia, that allows voters to "recall" leaders who don’t live up to their promises.

Despite 12 questions on a wide range of topics, the leaders provided no surprises and covered little new ground in the debate, mostly rehashing items from their previously released party platforms in their answers.

With files from the Canadian Press