'Crass interests': Del Duca's Liberals ask Ontario Premier Doug Ford to forgo early election

Ford denies he will call election before scheduled June 2022 date as Tory MPPs across York Region secure nominations

CBC.ca
October 5, 2020
Lisa Queen

Liberal leader and former York Region MPP Stephen Del Duca said his party is calling on Premier Doug Ford to promise in the legislature Oct. 5 not to call a snap election.

“Right now, we’re in an unprecedented crisis (due to the pandemic). We need political leaders to actually show up for work, roll up their sleeves and do the job that they were elected to do and not worry about their own crass interests,” said Del Duca, a former cabinet minister and Vaughan MPP, who was defeated in the 2018 provincial election.

“Sadly, it feels to me like Doug Ford has priorities that are out of whack here and so, yes, I think he’s looking at an early election.”

The next election is scheduled for June 2, 2020, with the Conservatives’ majority government not in jeopardy of being toppled by opposition parties beforehand.

But Conservative MPPs across Ontario have suddenly secured their nominations to run as candidates in the next election well in advance of 2022.

That includes York Region MPPs: York-Simcoe’s Caroline Mulroney, King-Vaughan’s Stephen Lecce, Newmarket-Aurora’s Christine Elliott, Markham-Stouffville’s Paul Calandra, Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill’s Michael Parsa, Markham-Unionville’s Billy Pang, Markham-Thornhill’s Logan Kanapathi, Vaughan-Woodbridge’s Michael Tibollo, Thornhill’s Gila Martow and Richmond Hill’s Daisy Wai.

“There is no reason whatsoever” for a majority government to do that so far in advance of a fixed election date unless they plan to go to the polls early, Del Duca said, acknowledging his party has a debt of $2.5 to $3-million.

“We know that they have been increasing the urgency and frequency of their online fundraising appeals and the whole province has seen now for weeks Doug Ford has been on a, I would say, very much a campaign-style, taxpayer-funded, premature victory lap, criss-crossing Ontario, all while we see (COVID-19) case counts rise,” he said.

“I think all of this points to very clearly that they are seriously considering an early election call instead of doing their jobs, which is lead Ontario through the second wave.”

In addition, Del Duca, who became Liberal leader last spring, said the Tories plan to have candidates in all ridings in place by early next March.

Ford said he isn’t planning an early election.

“We want to get our folks prepared for the election and have said before we aren’t going to be calling it in the spring. We’ll be calling it the regular time,” he told reporters last week at a daily news conference.

Ford also said the Liberals and NDP are going “hog wild” getting their candidates in place.

Calls by yorkregion.com to three York Region MPPs -- Mulroney, Elliott and Lecce -- were directed to the premier’s office, which provided a transcript of the news conference on the issue.

The premier’s office did not respond to a question asking if Ford will agree to the Liberals’ request to honour the 2022 scheduled election date.

An early election could reflect a desire by Ford to capitalize on his popularity during the pandemic.

According to a poll conducted by researcher Mara/BLUE between Aug. 28 and Sept. 8, Ford’s support sits at 56 per cent.