Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath has unveiled parts of her party\u2019s platform this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Horwath said that the NDP would focus on deprivatizing Hydro One, implementing universal pharmacare and dental coverage for all Ontarians, lowering wait times for healthcare services, raising taxes for corporations and the wealthiest people, and converting student loans to grants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Horwath said that these five policy points were part of a preview of the NDP\u2019s full campaign platform, which would be unveiled within the next few weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are going to run the biggest campaign the NDP has ever run in Ontario,\u201d Horwath told supporters at a campaign event over the weekend. \u201cIt will show everyone why we are running and why we are running to win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said the party would hold Canada\u2019s government accountable for Indigenous issues, pointing to the lack of clean drinking water in some Ontario First Nations communities. She also said the party would increase support for public transit and affordable housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Horwath said the party\u2019s plan starkly contrasts policies promised by Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford, who has vowed to cut $6 billion in public spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c(Ford) says he\u2019ll \u2018leave no stone unturned\u2019 in his hunt to privatize what belongs to the people of Ontario,\u201d she said. \u201cCutting jobs and services, selling off our public assets; that\u2019s not change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She did not say if her platform would involve running a larger deficit than the Liberal party\u2019s current budget. Instead, she criticized Premier Kathleen Wynne, declaring that voters are tired of broken promises and want change after 15 years of the Liberal party being in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wynne put out a statement after Horwath\u2019s speech, saying that she accepted \u201cmany of the ideas brought forward by the NDP\u201d but that the Liberal party would soon unveil their own platform aimed at supporting public services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ford put out a statement after Horwath\u2019s speech that said the PC\u2019s would work to improve Ontario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA PC government will lower hydro rates, scrap Kathleen Wynne and Justin Trudeau\u2019s expensive carbon tax, end hallway healthcare, ensure students are ready for the workforce, and bring good paying jobs back to our province and accountability back to Queen\u2019s Park,\u201d said Ford. \u201cIt\u2019s time for a change in Ontario. It\u2019s time to respect the taxpayer again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A recent online poll conducted by Leger suggested that 15 per cent of respondents believe Horwath is the best candidate to be Ontario\u2019s premier. There were 13 per cent of respondents who said that Wynne is the best candidate to be premier. In contrast, 24 per cent of respondents preferred Ford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ontario\u2019s election is set for June 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Header photo courtesy of The Globe and Mail)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Horwath said that they would focus on deprivatizing Hydro One, implementing universal pharmacare and dental coverage for all Ontarians<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rutvnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rutvnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rutvnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rutvnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rutvnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rutvnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rutvnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rutvnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rutvnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rutvnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}