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[6]By Bevan Hamilton [7]
BELLEVILLE – Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath painted an optimistic picture for supporters during a quick stop in Belleville on Wednesday.
Horwath addressed a hearty group of almost 50 people who waited under cloudy skies for about 45 minutes until she arrived at local candidate Merrill Stewart’s campaign office on Dundas Street East.
“For the last couple of days, we’ve been travelling through the province and we are seeing more and more momentum every day.”
Horwath said everywhere they go, people are telling her they’re getting behind the NDP this time.
“They’re saying that because they’re tired of the way things have gone in this province and they don’t want to support Liberal corruption. They don’t want to support the waste of our precious tax dollars as they’ve seen nor do they think that it’s right to have a plan that fires 100,000 people.”
Horwath said Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne has become more desperate and more negative as the campaign progressed.
“It’s becoming more and more clear the Liberals – Kathleen Wynne – cannot stop Tim Hudak. Only New Democrats – New Democrats like Merrill Stewart – are going to be able to stop the Tories in Ontario.”
Horwath recited some of the same quotes we’ve heard throughout her campaign:
“You don’t have to choose between bad ethics and bad math. You can choose the plan that makes sense. You can choose tomorrow to actually vote for what you want and get it when you vote NDP.”
Horwath said she knows a concern in the Prince-Edward Hastings riding is jobs and said the NDP believes there are ways to bring more manufacturing and investments to Ontario that don’t involve substantially lowering the corporate tax rate. She says her plan for job creation revolves around rewarding companies that create jobs.
“If you create a job, THEN you get the reward. Create a job and you get a tax credit. Invest in Ontario, invest in this province and you get a tax credit.”
Horwath said the NDP also plans to reduce small business tax rates as they “responsibly increase the minimum wage.”
Horwath also addressed the health care system in Ontario, telling the crowd her plan will cut emergency room wait times in half and shorten long-term and home care wait lists.
Horwath ended her ten-minute speech by encouraging supporters not to listen to people who try to tell them how to vote.
“Think about the kind of change that you want in this province and then you go into that ballot box, you go into that voting station and you vote for the kind of change you want and here in Prince-Edward Hastings and here in Belleville, the change you want is Merrill Stewart.”
The polls open Thursday at 9 a.m.