TORONTO - The tone for the Oct. 6 Ontario election turned nasty Thursday, just one day after the Liberal government prorogued the legislature a day early and the campaigning officially began.

Even before the legislature rose, Premier Dalton McGuinty warned voters the Tories could not be trusted when they say they won't cut full-day kindergarten, a signature Liberal program that will cost $1.5 billion a year when fully implemented.

The Tories fired back Thursday, saying it's McGuinty who has the track record of promising not to raise taxes before elections and breaking those promises with the health tax of up to $900 per worker and the 13 per cent harmonized sales tax.

"Mr. McGuinty has a lot of nerve talking about trust given the fact he went to the polls twice telling Ontario families he wouldn't raise their taxes and twice, once he got the keys to the premier's office, he did just that with two very big tax increases of $3 billion each," said Opposition critic Lisa MacLeod.

McGuinty will raise the HST by 25 per cent or introduce a carbon tax if he wins the election, MacLeod warned, despite the premier's specific and repeated denials of any such plans.

"They've been fear mongering about us for years," she said. "The reality is they've got the record of making promises and then breaking them."

The Tories and Liberals are ignoring the real issues facing voters, such as the increasing cost of living, by attacking each other, said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

"The concerns and issues of everyday people get lost in the mix," she said. "That ends up being the least important piece of the puzzle when it should be the most important."

The Liberals claim the numbers in the Conservatives' campaign platform just don't add up and will force the Tories to close hospitals and slash government services if they win the election, just as the Mike Harris Tories did after winning the 1995 vote.

The Tories are unclear about how they would manage to reduce the size of government by two per cent each year as promised, and on how those cuts would impact government services.

MacLeod pointed to previous Tory promises to eliminate local health networks and the Ontario Power Authority, but couldn't say what actual services would be impacted by reducing the size of government every year.

"When we look at the sunshine list and the bloated bureaucracies that we've been challenging the government on for the past eight years, I think we can do better," she said. "We're going to put forward our plan to give tax relief to Ontario families and protect public services."

The name-calling and partisan accusations are just part of the political landscape these days, said government House Leader Monique Smith, who took more shots at the recently released Tory campaign platform known as Changebook.

"Unfortunately, sometimes that is the way," said Smith. "But I think that with the introduction of the 'slickbook' on Sunday and the $10-billion hole in it, there is some question as to the veracity of what the Conservatives are putting out, and to the kind of honesty to what they're putting out in their platform and the costing of it."

The Liberals have not said when they will reveal their campaign platform, while Horwath said the New Democrats will outline their policies at the end of the month.

"To me it's not about attacks or any of that kind of game," she said. "For me it's about putting forward a real option for positive change."

Both opposition parties accused the Liberals of being afraid to face one more question period, but Smith said there was nothing unusual in the government wrapping up its business a day early.

"I don't see it as being a really big deal or a problem, we've done it in the past," she said.

The Liberals flatly denied suggestions they prorogued early to prevent a special tribute to Speaker Steve Peters, a Liberal who criticized his own government Tuesday as the legislature paid tribute to him and 13 other MPPs not running for re-election this fall.

"There's no truth to that at all," said Smith.