Toronto·The Campaigner

'You're late!' Ford learns when it comes to seniors, you'd best be on time

With voting day just over a week away, candidates are rounding the clubhouse turn in what has been an Ontario election unlike any other. This is your campaigner for May 30.

Also, why Peterborough-Kawartha is a riding to watch

PC Leader Doug Ford speaks to residents during a campaign stop at Portal Village Retirement Home in Port Colborne on Tuesday. (Aaron Lynett/Canadian Press)

With voting day just over a week away, candidates are rounding the clubhouse turn in what has been an Ontario election unlike any other.

Here's where we are on day 22.

Latest from the campaign

The moment

Doug Ford may have learned an important lesson in provincial politics on Tuesday: If you're going to speak to seniors, be on time. 

The auditorium at Portal Village retirement home in Port Colborne was filled with residents ready to welcome the PC leader, who was slated to speak at 10:45 a.m. 

Late arrivals are fairly standard on the campaign trail. It's easy to get knocked off schedule and sometimes, being fashionably late allows the crowd to build in both size and anticipation.

But when the media was let in slightly after 11 a.m., you could tell some folks were already a bit antsy.

One woman walked out, saying it was nearly her meal time.

By the time Ford walked into the room and greeted them, a man shouted out: "You're late!" Twice, in fact. Granted, it was 45 minutes from when the event was supposed to start.

Ford continued shaking hands and proceeded to speak. As he's done for the past two weeks, he focused his comments on the NDP, saying a government led by Andrea Horwath would do nothing to ease high hydro costs and bring jobs to the Niagara region. 

Poll tracker

The NDP is widening its edge over PCs — but Ford is still favoured to win more seats thanks to better regional distribution of that vote. For the Liberals, things are looking grim with every one of their seats in danger. Get the full breakdown.

Riding to watch

Peterborough-Kawartha, population 118,175, profile by Chris Glover

Swing ridings like Peterborough-Kawartha and Guelph are important to track during election campaigns because, since 1987, whoever wins there also forms government. 

If this pattern proves true again, the Liberals — and candidate Jeff Leal — are in rough shape. 

When our news crew spent the day in Peterborough-Kawartha, it was overwhelmingly obvious this is a two-horse race between Progressive Conservative candidate Dave Smith and the NDP's Sean Conway.

Not one voter we interviewed said they would vote Liberal, and that included several people who said they voted Liberal in the last few elections (the Libs have held Peterborough since 2003, when they first formed government). 

Sampling the population and judging by lawn signs on private property, it's hard to say who had the edge between the PCs and the New Democrats, but it's clear it's down to them. The Greens are also running a candidate here: Gianne Broughton.

Affordable housing panel

You spoke and we listened.

Tonight, Ontario's election social team is hosting a conversation in Barrie on affordable housing.

You can watch the panel on CBC Toronto at 6 in Toronto or you can stream it live on Facebook and on Twitter starting at 6:30 p.m. ET this evening. 

We want you to join in on the conversation online, by sending us your comments in our Facebook feed and tweeting @CBCToronto. 

We will put your questions and comments to our panel.

Where the leaders are

  • Ford: Announcement in Sarnia (10:30 a.m.), rally in London (7 p.m.)
  • Horwath: Announcement in Windsor (8:30 a.m.), announcement in Leamington (12:30 p.m.), event in Kitchener (7 pm.)
  • Schreiner: All-candidates debate in Guelph (10 a.m.), meet the candidates forum in Guelph (12 noon)
  • Wynne: Announcement in Thornhill (12:45 p.m.), visit to Carter's Ice Cream in Toronto (3:30 p.m.), live Q&A at Twitter in Toronto (6 p.m.)

We're tracking the Ontario leaders on the campaign trail. See where they have stopped.

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For more Ontario election coverage

Ontario Poll Tracker | Get the latest projections here
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