Horwath stops again in HWAD riding, hoping it pays off with 2 days left to campaign
NDP leader had eight events lined up as part of final push ahead of election day
NDP leader Andrea Horwath's voice was slightly hoarse by the time she got to her sixth campaign event of the day in Dundas, in front of candidate Sandy Shaw's campaign office.
It was a short stop, where she was greeted by a group of about 30 supporters. They chanted her first name and asked her for selfies one after another.
"I feel great," Horwath said, "Especially to be in the hometown."
She then turned to the crowd, "I'll see you all Thursday night, I hope!"
It's Horwath's third visit to the riding as she has lent considerable support to Shaw's campaign.
Liberal for almost 2 decades
Dundas is in the Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas riding, which has been Liberal for almost two decades. The current sitting MPP is Ted McMeekin. He has been an MPP for the past 18 years.
McMeekin posted on Facebook on Monday, urging people to not "split the vote," saying the last time people switched to voting NDP in the 2011 federal election, they elected a PC majority government.
The PC party's candidate is Ben Levitt, who works in the constituency office of local MP David Sweet. In a Facebook post Tuesday afternoon, he shared an image that said "NDP wants higher gas prices," quoting Shaw's interview for Hamilton News, where she said Doug Ford's plan to reduce gas prices is reckless.
He was renamed as the candidate after a long-drawn nomination dispute involving legal challenges and an ongoing criminal investigation.
Shaw is currently on the board of directors for the Hamilton Port Authority.
And the Green party's candidate is Peter Ormond, who teaches renewable energies at Mohawk College.
Reaction to Ford's lawsuit
On Tuesday morning, PC leader Doug Ford's sister-in-law filed a lawsuit against him and his brother, Randy Ford. Rob Ford's widow claimed she and her children were bilked out of millions of dollars.
Horwath said there are "a lot of unanswered questions."
"I think it's something that will make families think carefully about the fact that he seems to be not even supporting his own family, what would he do if he was the premier of the province?"
She said this lawsuit will only add onto the worries that people in the Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas riding already have — pointing to the ongoing police investigations into alleged ballot box stuffing during the PC nomination.
And then she made the connection to previous scandals surrounding the Liberal government, like the Sudbury byelection and wiping of government computers following a decision to cancel two gas plants.
She said Ontario doesn't need another premier that'll behave in the same way.
At the end of her 10-minute stop, Horwath said they're hopeful that HWAD will turn orange. This riding has historically been Liberal for close to two decades.
"Our candidates are feeling good."
After Dundas, Horwath has two planned stops in Burlington and finally ending a long campaign day in downtown Toronto.