TORONTO - Ontario's governing Liberals and the Opposition Progressive Conservatives resorted to name calling Wednesday in their pre-election posturing, with each party accusing the other of having zero credibility.
It started when the Liberals held a briefing to tear apart the Tory campaign platform released in May, claiming there's a "$14-billion hole" over four years in the PC numbers.
Tory Leader Tim Hudak can't be believed when he promises to eliminate the debt retirement charge from hydro bills and trim government spending by two per cent, all without cutting health care or education funding, said Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.
"It's a crock," Duncan told reporters. "It's deceptive, and they're lying about the stranded debt. It's just a bald-faced lie."
The Conservatives quickly countered by saying it's the Liberals who can't be trusted after promising they wouldn't raise taxes before the last two Ontario elections, and then imposing a health tax of up to $900 per worker and the 13 per cent Harmonized Sales Tax.
Even though the Liberals have yet to announce a campaign platform, deputy PC Leader Christine Elliott predicted the Grits would indeed raise taxes again if they won a third term in government Oct. 6. She flatly rejected Liberal claims the so-called $14-billion hole in the PC platform would force them to fire nurses and teachers.
"Consider the source," said Elliott. "They have zero credibility when it comes to financial matters. When the going gets tough, what do they do? They raises taxes and they keep on spending."
The New Democrats, who will release their campaign platform this weekend, said they had no interest in the schoolyard antics the Liberals and Tories were displaying Wednesday.
"We see the back and forth of sand throwing in the sandbox, and I think people are tired of it," said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. "I think people want their political parties and governments to bring forward solutions that work for them, not spend all their time throwing shots at each other."
Elliott insisted the PC campaign platform had been fully costed out, and said it was possible to reduce overall government spending by two per cent a year without reducing health and education funding, which eat up more than 70 per cent of program spending.
"We don't make promises that we can't deliver on," she said. "We are fully confident in our numbers."
However, Elliott cautioned that not everything will stay the same in health and education under a Tory government.
"We've already promised to scrap the (Local Health Integration Networks) if we're elected," she said. "That's $300 million that could be put into front-line patient care. We believe that there are significant savings in the system already, if we spend the money that we already have better."
The Liberals said there's no way the Tories could trim spending by two per cent a year from everything but health and education unless they end up closing hospitals and schools, as former PC premier Mike Harris did.
"We've seen this movie with this gang, and I think it's pretty evident they're just trying to hide what they'll have to do," said Duncan. "At least Mike Harris had the decency to say how he was going to do it. This guy's no Mike Harris."
