Jobs, health care and taxes top provincial leaders’ debate

TORONTO – Jobs, health care and taxes dominated the Ontario pre-election debate, with the opposition leaders coming down hard on Premier Dalton McGuinty.

The only televised provincial leaders’ debate ran from 6:30 to 8 p.m. ET., Tuesday.

680News political specialist John Stall was there and tweeted his impressions of the debate:

Early in the debate both the NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and PC Leader Tim Hudak accused McGuinty of a failing jobs plan.

On the issue of skilled labour shortage, McGuinty accused Hudak of going after foreign workers who are Canadian.

Hudak says the Liberals have only created low-wage jobs and graduating students can’t find work, with McGuinty contesting that the province’s economy is in fact faring well.

Horwath says the Liberal plan hasn’t worked, and is leaving students jobless and with “a mountain of debt.”

680News political specialist John Stall was watching the debate and gave his impressions of the three candidates:

Andrea Horwath: The debate may give Horwath the biggest bounce in public opinion.  The NDP Leader was calm, composed and authentic between two angry men.

Dalton McGuinty: McGuinty did not appear to be thrown by any of the questions directed to him by the other candidates, including the tax increases that he has put together.

Tim Hudak: Hudak really had to make an impression tonight to those outside his constituents and I do not believe he did. Hudak sounded better than he looked and appeared very well rehearsed – almost too polite.

The latest polls suggest that the Liberals and Conservatives are in a virtual dead heat however Horwath said both leaders are failing to put the people of Ontario first.

“The most unfortunately thing that I have seen in this campaign so far is the hurling of accusations and insults when we should be focusing on how we make Ontario a better place. Where people come first, where students come first, where jobs come first,” said Horwath.

While the parties are counting on the debate to sway some voters, some political watchers think many viewers will be tuning out.

Schulich School of Business marketing professor Alan Middleton thinks the days of the knock-out punch are gone, and that the leaders will stick to a script.

“All our politicians now are far too media-trained, far too careful, I mean, you’ll occasionally get a line that may slip through, but we know what the agenda is going to be,” Middleton said.

University of Toronto political scientist Nelson Wiseman told 680News that unfortunately it’s just not very good television.

“I’m a political junkie — I had a hard time sitting through the English-language debate last time, I’m talking about the federal election, because it was very repetitive,” Wiseman said.

Wiseman said while three people took part in the debate, this campaign is really a two-person race between Hudak and McGuinty.

The election will take place October 6.

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