Wynne wants to ‘level the playing field’ for Ontarians
Ontario’s premier says she will campaign to help those who are struggling despite an improving economy

Thespec.com
Rob Ferguson
Dec. 19, 2017

Premier Kathleen Wynne says she’ll campaign in next June’s election on more ways to “level the playing field” for Ontarians struggling even as the economy improves with unemployment at a 17-year low.

“Everybody in the province knows what I stand for,” Wynne told the Toronto Star in a year-end interview, touting a new pharmacare plan for people under 25 and a $14 minimum wage starting Jan. 1, moving to $15 in 2019.

“Anything we do going forward is going to be consistent with what we’ve already done,” she added, flagging prescription drug and dental coverage as “gaps” in medicare that need to be addressed.

“I have a deep belief that we don’t play on a level field. And so, what can I do to level that playing field?”

While Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown has released his full “People’s Guarantee” platform for the June 7 vote including four-year delay to the $15 minimum wage  Wynne is cagey on when the Liberal effort will be revealed.

Most elements are widely expected in the government’s annual budget, expected earlier than the usual late March or April.

“We will be introducing a budget in the spring. . . the rest of the strategy we’ll have to wait and see,” the premier said, quickly changing the time frame to a more vague “in the new year” when reminded spring begins March 20.

Nor will Wynne reveal whether the government will push the Legislature to pass the budget before it adjourns for the campaign, which will officially kick off in the second week of May.

A recent poll by the firm Campaign Research after the PC platform was released suggests the election race has tightened, with the Conservatives and Liberals neck-and-neck for top spot within the survey’s margin of error and the New Democrats about 13 points behind at 22 per cent.

But Wynne’s approval rating was 19 per cent, compared with 29 for Brown and 33 for NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

The premier, who has embarked on a series of taxpayer-financed town hall meetings to hear from the public, acknowledges voter perceptions of her are “relevant” but said she has no plans to change course.

“I have to do my job and I have to listen to people and put in place what I believe to be the supports the people need. . . their determination about me personally is up to them.”

Wynne cites 25 per cent off hydro bills, new transit lines in the works and the Vaughan subway extension that just opened, free tuition for low- and middle-income families, more child-care spaces, her successful push for an improved Canada Pension Plan and indexing the $15 minimum wage to inflation as ways she has tried to improve the daily lives of Ontarians.

Opposition parties, however, say overcrowded hospitals, hydro bills that skyrocketed out of control and almost 15 years in office leave the Liberals ripe for defeat.

“This is about patients waiting in agony, treatments being delayed and people having their health and dignity impacted by hallway medicine. This is about people’s lives,” Horwath said last week, highlighting an issue that her party will hit in the campaign.

While she wouldn’t reveal details about the Liberal election strategy, Wynne was certain she won’t be pictured buying pot at one of the new government-controlled cannabis shops as she was buying wine at a grocery store.

“I don’t use marijuana, so I won’t be doing that,” she said, noting she tried pot “a long, long time ago. I’m on the record on that.”