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[4]By Bevan Hamilton [5]
BELLEVILLE – The message from Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne has been consistent lately: NDP voters should vote Liberal on Thursday if they want to avoid having Tim Hudak as the next premier of Ontario.
Wynne brought that message to Belleville Tuesday afternoon during a short pit stop for a small gathering of supporters. About 30 people from the Liberal riding association were on hand to hear Wynne speak for about ten minutes in support of Prince-Edward Hastings Liberal candidate Georgina Thompson.
Wynne has been targeting NDP voters recently in an attempt to gain the upper hand in what she says is sure to be a two-horse race with the Progressive Conservatives in the provincial election.
“People who are thinking about voting NDP now, they can’t vote NDP and get a progressive government because if they don’t come with us, we run the risk of having Tim Hudak as the premier.”
Wynne continued to stress her “progressive budget.”
“I get that NDP voters want to remain loyal to their party, but this is too important and they need to get how good our budget was in terms of those investments. It’s a budget for the people. It’s a budget for progressive people.”
Wynne told supporters she got involved in politics because she was seeing what was happening with public-funded education during the Mike Harris era. She implied that a Tim Hudak-led government would bring the same thing to Ontario. She said if Ontario wants to compete globally, it has to have the best-educated workforce.
Wynne also talked about the importance of partnering with businesses and helping them grow.
“That’s what good government does and so that is what our plan is about.”
Wynne also voiced her support of Thompson, saying “we need her at Queen’s Park.”
Thompson responded by telling Wynne, “we’re here for you. We believe in your plan. We believe in your vision and we believe in your budget.”
Wynne was scheduled to go on to Trenton later Tuesday afternoon. The election is on Thursday.
QNet’s Greg Murphy put together a Storify of the event, which you can see here. [6]