Ontario opposition leaders make last-ditch appeals as province heads to polls

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Ontario’s two main opposition leaders made last-ditch appeals to voters on Wednesday in their attempt to unseat Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford, with polls set to open at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday.

Both NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca headed to key ridings on Wednesday, after a month-long election campaign in which both claimed theirs was the only party that could challenge Mr. Ford.

The PC Leader, who skipped one photo-op this week and hadn’t faced reporters for the campaign’s final two days, was to attend a rally in his west-Toronto political home base of Etobicoke on Wednesday evening.

Ms. Horwath’s whirlwind schedule on Wednesday was dominated by stops in ridings where PC candidates won last time – in Brampton South, Brantford-Brant, Flamborough-Glanbrook, Brampton West and Etobicoke-Lakeshore. And while Mr. Del Duca often accuses Ms. Horwath of targeting him instead of Mr. Ford, the Liberal Leader’s only two public appearances on Wednesday were in ridings won by the NDP in 2018.

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In traditionally Liberal Toronto-St. Paul’s, won by the NDP’s Jill Andrew in 2018, Mr. Del Duca stopped by a Jamaican restaurant with candidate Nathan Stall, a doctor who sat on the province’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table and has been critical of the PC government’s pandemic response.

The Liberal Leader was expected to head back to his own riding of Vaughan-Woodbridge later Wednesday as he faces a close race there, trying to snag a seat from PC associate cabinet minister Michael Tibollo.

Mr. Del Duca, who took over as leader in 2020 and has had to rebuild a party left with just seven seats in 2018, told reporters no matter what happens on election night, he is not resigning.

“Regardless of the result, I am not going anywhere,” Mr. Del Duca said. “We are just getting started.”

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Ms. Horwath, in her fourth election as NDP Leader, said this week she would make a decision about her future once voters had made their decision known on Thursday. She is expected to face calls to step down if the NDP fails to form government or loses its status as Official Opposition.

She also headed out to Cambridge on Wednesday, where the NDP came within five percentage points of the PCs last time and where anti-vaccine-mandate MPP Belinda Karahalios, exiled from the PC caucus, is running under the fringe New Blue Party banner. The NDP Leader finished the day with a rally in downtown Toronto in the riding of Spadina-Fort York, which her party won in 2018.

The NDP, which won 40 seats in 2018, has targeted many of the 60 ridings where it placed first or second in that race. Ms. Horwath pleaded with voters loyal to the Liberals or other parties who want Mr. Ford gone to rally behind her party.

“Really what we want to do is make sure that those places where the NDP came second, we’re asking people to make sure we come in first tomorrow,” she said.

Both opposition leaders faced questions about the decriminalization of hard drugs on Wednesday, after news came out this week that the federal government is granting British Columbia a three-year exemption to remove penalties for possession of up to 2.5 grams of certain illegal drugs, including opioids, a move welcomed by drug-policy experts and advocates.

Ms. Horwath said her party strongly supports decriminalization and, if elected, would advocate for a similar exemption from Ottawa. The NDP would also declare the opioid crisis a public-health emergency and remove the cap on supervised drug-use sites introduced by the PC government, Ms. Horwath said.

The Ontario Liberals released a short statement on decriminalization Wednesday saying “this is not something we are considering.” Asked by reporters if a Liberal government would ever consider the idea, Mr. Del Duca said it was “not in our plan to look at right now.”

Dr. Stall said the Liberals would spend $300-million on the opioid crisis, make overdose kits more widely available and lift the cap on supervised drug-use sites.

Mr. Ford did not have a media conference scheduled Wednesday before his evening rally. He has said in the past he does not support decriminalization of hard drugs. His government capped the number of supervised drug-use sites, angering harm-reduction advocates. In the 2018 campaign, he said he was “dead-set against” these sites.

Green Leader Mike Schreiner finished his campaign in Kitchener. He had focused efforts lately on Parry Sound-Muskoka, where the party has had high hopes it could elect a second MPP.

Polls are open Thursday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and eligible voters must show a piece of identification to receive a ballot.

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