Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty spent much of Tuesday evening on the defensive over his record on everything from taxes and health care to seniors living on fixed incomes.
In a televised debate that featured a ceaseless barrage of attacks on Mr. McGuinty from his two opponents, the bulk of the most pointed exchanges were over his clean energy policies that are saddling electricity consumers with higher hydro bills.
At one point well into the 90-minute debate, Mr. McGuinty resorted to the same tactics, all but accusing Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak of xenophobia. The question was on education, but Mr. McGuinty mentioned not only that Mr. Hudak would cancel scholarships for foreign students, but that he has vowed to rip up a contract with South Korean multinational Samsung and has criticized the Liberals’ tax credit for new Canadians as something designed for foreign workers.
“He called Canadian citizens foreigners,” Mr. McGuinty said.
Even though the Liberal Leader was fully expecting to be attacked during the election campaign’s only televised debate, his two rivals often managed to throw him off his main message – that Ontario is back on the path to prosperity, thanks to his clean energy policies.
In his fourth debate, Mr. McGuinty squared off against two rookies. Mr. Hudak, who has often been criticized for being overly scripted, held his own and did not resort to repeating the same sound bits. But it was Andrea Horwath who came off surprisingly well. Many expected her not to perform well after she came across ill prepared during a dry run last week at a debate in Northern Ontario.
Ms. Horwath is a threat because she could siphon off votes from the Liberals – something Mr. Hudak hopes will happen. Her performance in the debate, just nine days before voters go to the polls, could help Mr. Hudak, who is in a neck-in-neck race with Mr. McGuinty.
Ms. Horwath blamed her performance in Thunder Bay – a debate Mr. McGuinty skipped – on a cold.
“It’s like anything,” she told reporters Tuesday evening. “You do better the more opportunity you have to try something new.”
It was Ms. Horwath who got off the best line of the night when Mr. McGuinty attempted to defend his 11th-hour decision to pull the plug on a gas-fired power plant in Mississauga. The Liberals cancelled the project last Saturday, amid opposition from residents, even though construction has already begun.
“What’s changed is there’s an election on the horizon,” she said.
The New Democrat leader stood between her two rivals both literally and figuratively, often admonishing Mr. McGuinty and Mr. Hudak to stop bickering with each other and to get back to addressing the question posed by a listener.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” she told reporters. “If I’m in the premier’s chair I’ll probably be wearing a skirt with my legs crossed. So that will make a little bit of a change in Ontario.”
The Tories issued a statement after the debate, declaring their leader the winner. Asked if he agreed with this assessment, Mr. Hudak, joked that his wife, Deb Hutton, checked in with his daughter Miller’s babysitter, who was watching the debate with Miller.
“She asked Miller who won the debate, Miller said daddy, so I won her over,” he said.
As for Mr. McGuinty, he was in a difficult position going into the debate, because it was two against one.
“I’m saying to Ontarians, don’t compare me to the almighty,” he told reporters after. “Compare me to the alternative and the fact of the matter is, I think what Ontarians are looking for is not perfection. They’re looking for measurable progress.”