Kathleen Wynne spoke at the opening of Scarborough-Southwest Liberal candidate – and retired Toronto police chief – Bill Blair’s campaign office, and used her time at the podium to deliver a pointed comparison of Harper to Canada’s first Prime Minister.
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The Liberal premier has made no secret of her frustrations with Harper and his Conservative government, but insisted she was simply “standing up” for Ontario on a host of issues including pensions, infrastructure investments and climate change. “And that will make it very hard if indeed the Conservative government is reelected in Ottawa to pursue the kinds of policies and the cooperation that she would say that she would want to pursue”. Notley said she would not be actively campaigning for federal NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, but would support him.
She again blasted Harper for refusing to meet the provincial premiers – a position she noted he repeated during Thursday’s leaders’ debate – and said Canadians need a prime minister who will work with the provinces.
“That’s not partnership, that’s not collaboration and that’s not leadership”, Wynne said.
“He would have said ‘Well, you know, we’re not going to help you with that, build it yourself, ‘” she said.
The relationship between Harper and Wynne has steadily deteriorated since Harper’s refusal to help administer Ontario’s plan for a new pension.
Premier Kathleen Wynne said it’s her job to stand up for the people of Ontario who she argues are being shortchanged by the Conservative government.
The Conservatives have warned that the ORPP will result in a payroll tax because it requires contributions from employers and workers in any company that does not have a workplace pension.
Martin Rust, a senior advisor with StrategyCorp, said Wynne’s remarks during the election campaign have been surprising.
“There was lots of campaigning during our election from all sides of the political spectrum and at the federal level”, she said.
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“I’m not sure how much more dysfunctional the relationship can get”, Wynne said.
