TORONTO - Ontario Liberals shouldn't shy away from defending the HST and higher electricity bills, but they should also remind voters of the sad legacy left behind by the previous Progressive Conservative government, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Saturday.

The Liberals introduced tax reform to boost the economy and help create jobs and spent billions on necessary upgrades to the electricity system. McGuinty warned the Tory promise to cut taxes will threaten the government services people depend on.

"Families don't want to worry about the safety of their food, breathing the air, turning on the tap or flicking on the light switch," McGuinty told about 1,000 Liberal delegates to the party's last annual general meeting before next October's provincial election.

"We need to be absolutely certain that we can count on those services that free us up to focus on our work and a good living for our families. The other guys would rob families of that certainty."

McGuinty told the Liberal faithful the Conservatives' spend so much time and energy on negative attacks they are being fundamentally disrespectful to families, but then did some attacking of his own.

"Look at their track record in government; it's a legacy of closed hospitals, countless school days lost to strikes, fired water and meat inspectors and short sighted schemes that have taken years to undo," he said

"Theirs was the shallow, cynical politics of division. It was business against workers, government against teachers, the rich against the poor."

The premier's attack was an attempt to change the channel from a government that finds itself increasingly unpopular with just under a year until voters go to the polls, said Opposition Tory critic Jim Wilson.

"He spends part of his speech saying we're not going to be negative and then does 15 minutes of negative," said Wilson.

"After gouging families through hidden hydro fees, higher hydro rates, HST, health tax, eco fees, he's suddenly decided that he should become a Johnny-come-lately to supporting the average Ontario family."

Speaking later with reporters, McGuinty denied he was going to run a negative campaign, insisting it wasn't his style. However he added he wouldn't stop reminding voters about what the Tories did during their eight years in power.

"I'm going to ensure that we run on our record and they run on their record. They don't want to talk about their record," said McGuinty.

"I'm not saying our record is perfect but I think Ontarians are entitled to the benefit of a sharp and clear contrast of our records."

The Liberals are the ones who hired water inspectors and meat inspectors and reduced coal-fired generation as they tried to undo some of the damage left behind by the Tories, he added.

McGuinty's frequent references to water inspectors is a not-so-subtle shot at the Walkerton water tragedy, which claimed seven lives and made 2,500 people sick in May 2000. The Walkerton water tower featured prominently in a new campaign-style video the Liberals unveiled at the weekend meeting.

The New Democrats denied they were being left on the side-lines in the fight between the Liberals and Tories, and went on the attack themselves against McGuinty's record in office.

"As he spins a fairy tale about how great things are, if you look at the facts, as he invites us to do, it's not a pretty picture," said NDP critic Rosario Marchese.

"We've got more people going to food banks than ever before, 140,000 still waiting to get into housing, 400,000 people lost good manufacturing jobs and some people are one paycheque away from losing their homes."

McGuinty also dismissed suggestions he was going on the attack because of poor showings in recent public opinion polls, insisting he'll stay focused on schools, health care, the economy and the environment -- issues he says families really care about more than tax cuts.

"The bottom line is that families are about more than just the bottom line."