Wynne vows to stay ‘positive’ in byelections, but attacks Tories and NDP
Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne hits the campaign trail ahead of two Feb. 13 byelections in Thornhill and Niagara Falls.

Toronto Star
January 20, 2014
By Robert Benzie

Premier Kathleen Wynne’s latest TV commercial boasts about “the power of being positive.”
As Wynne hit the campaign trail in Thornhill, she insisted positivity will propel her Liberals to victory in Feb. 13 byelections here and in Niagara Falls.

“We understand that running a strong, positive, constructive campaign is what we’re all about,” she told cheering partisans Monday at Liberal candidate Sandra Yeung Racco’s campaign office. 

That echoed the message of her newest slick TV spot, depicting her jogging through the bucolic Caledon hills.

But, energized by the cheering throng at Yeung Racco’s headquarters, the premier proceeded to attack Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. 

“And at the same time there are distinctions between our candidate and the other candidates,” said a feisty Wynne.

“We know that the Conservatives . . . will pick up where Mike Harris left off,” she said.

“We know that (with) the NDP . . . we don’t hear a plan. Every single initiative that we have put forward on transit, they have not been supportive.”

In contrast, Wynne, who will mark her first anniversary as premier on Feb. 11, said only the Liberals have a viable plan for governing.

“We are the government that can deliver on transit and on the social services — the health care and education services — that we know are needed in Thornhill.”

Undecided voter Sam Rosenberg, who cast a ballot for retired Conservative MPP Peter Shurman in the 2011 election, said he was impressed after meeting Wynne when she campaigned in the Promenade Mall. 

“She inherited a total mess and she’s handling it,” said Rosenberg, as he sat with his wife, daughters and grandchildren at an Aroma Espresso Bar. 

That was an apparent reference to former premier Dalton McGuinty, who bequeathed Wynne with a myriad of headaches including an up to $1.1 billion tab for taxpayers to cancel gas-fired electricity plants in Mississauga and Oakville to help the Grits in the 2011 election. 

“Normally, I’m a Conservative, so to change my mind there has to be something in it for me to change it,” he said, adding he’s seen Wynne’s “running” ads and, as a fellow jogger, likes them. 

“I think she’s doing an excellent job.”

The Tory candidate here is Gila Martow while the New Democrat is Cindy Hackelberg. 

In Niagara Falls, where voters are selecting a successor to retired Grit MPP Kim Craitor, the PC nominee is former MPP Bart Maves, the Liberal is Joyce Morocco and the NDP candidate is Wayne Gates. 

Currently the 107-member legislature has 49 Liberals, including Speaker Dave Levac, 36 Tories and 20 New Democrats.