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Anatomy
of a campaign tour

Anatomy of a campaign tour

For weeks, party leaders have been criss-crossing Canada’s most populous province in a bid to get the most votes on June 12. Where they’ve been – and where they haven’t – says a lot about where the parties think they can win.

Total visits per riding

Click on ridings to see total number of campaign stops made by all three parties.

If you live in downtown Toronto, Niagara Falls, Kitchener, Peterborough or Ottawa, you’ve likely had a chance to see one of the three party leaders in action. If you live somewhere else, you’re probably out of luck. Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath have been spending most of their time on the campaign trail in the densely populated Greater Toronto Area or one of the cities in southwestern Ontario. Both areas have been fertile ground for Liberals in the past decade, but opposition parties have been chipping away at Grit support there.

Eastern Ontario has gotten far less attention, with only occasional visits to Ottawa – where there are many swing Liberal-Tory ridings in play. Party leaders have ventured to the north only three times – once by Ms. Wynne over three days, and twice by Ms. Horwath. The most-visited riding, Trinity-Spadina in downtown Toronto, is the site of a hotly contest federal by-election. It also contains numerous conference centres that politicians often make speeches at, as well as the University of Toronto and the Bay Street financial district.

Per-party campaign movement

Tim Hudak

Progressive Conservatives

Mr. Hudak has been concentrating largely on the Greater Toronto Area – where the party is trying to emulate its federal cousin’s success at drumming up votes in the suburbs – and in the southwest, where the collapse of the manufacturing industry may breed some discontent for the decade-old Liberal government.

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Kathleen Wynne

Liberals

Of all the leaders, Ms. Wynne has been playing the most defence. She has stuck to appearing most often in ridings in the GTA that the Liberals fear losing, as well as some in the southwest and east.

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Andrea Horwath

NDP

Ms. Horwath has spent most of the campaign travelling around southwestern Ontario, where the party has had recent surprise by-election wins in London, Niagara Falls and Kitchener, and clearly thinks it could have more success there. She has had few appearances in ridings the party already holds in Toronto.

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Interactive by Tom Cardoso & Stuart A. Thompson

The Globe and Mail has tracked the party leaders’ public events since the writ dropped on May 7. We’ve counted individual events, which often feature local candidates, and public speeches. We have not included media interviews, which can often be broadcast or read in multiple ridings, announcements at Queen’s Park, or events closed to the public and reporters.

Data includes events up until June 9. Markers are accurate down to the city level.