Oct. 2, 2003. 09:20 PM
Liberals sail to majority
CANADIAN PRESS
Eight years of Tory tax cuts in Ontario came to a screeching halt tonight as Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals sailed to a majority government, luring voters with a promise to end the “politics of division.”
The Liberals were leading or elected in almost every part of the province, leaving the Tories with a fraction of the seats they once held and the NDP facing a political catastrophe.
All three leaders were re-elected, but the NDP was facing catastrophe, appearing to fall short of the eight seats required for official party status, which gives them privileges in the legislature.
It was the first time in almost 70 years that a sitting Conservative premier in Ontario had lost an election outright.
Conservative Leader Ernie Eves wasted no time in calling McGuinty to concede victory.
Voters rejected outright the right-wing platform of Eves, who replaced Mike Harris as premier 18 months ago, and ran on promises of more tax cuts, a ban on teacher strikes and a pledge to scoop the homeless from the streets.
As Harris’s finance minister, Eves, a 57-year-old millionaire lawyer, presided over the unprecedented tax and spending cuts that characterized the party’s time in power, but was unable to find his own niche as premier.
McGuinty, a straitlaced lawyer from Ottawa, said the province could ill-afford more tax cuts if there were to be improvements to Ontario’s schools and hospitals.
Corporate tax cuts will be rolled back as the Liberals start to implement Ontario’s $71-billion budget, as will a property tax break for seniors.
In the Liberal Ontario, residents can also expect to see a cap on class sizes in the early grades, more doctors and nurses, a tuition freeze and an increase to the minimum wage.
Several key Tories managed to hold on to their seats, among them Norm Sterling, a former attorney general, Bob Runciman, who was minister of public safety and Jim Wilson, who held the environment portfolio.
The Conservatives also managed to hold on to the key “905” region, named for the telephone area code of the middle-class suburban neighbourhoods surrounding Toronto.
The month-long contest was marked by vitriolic Tory jabs against McGuinty, whose approval rating soared since his shaky bid to become premier in 1999.
Tory attack dogs accused the Liberal leader of being opposed to seniors, homeowners and students because he opposed tax cuts that would benefit those groups.
At times, the barbs bordered on the bizarre: one Conservative release inexplicably called McGuinty an “evil reptilian kitten-eater from outer space.”
By the end of the campaign, Eves seemed to be cracking under the strain of his inability to revive the Tory party’s flagging fortunes, accusing McGuinty of saying “whatever pops into his little sharp pointy head.”
Through it all, McGuinty insisted he would stick to the “high road,” showing voters a sense of humour they hadn’t seen before.
While voters have embraced the Liberal platform, it wasn’t clear how quickly it can be implemented.
One report suggested the Tory government had been running a deficit of $4.5 billion.
McGuinty has said he’ll slow down the roll-out of his policies if necessary, but he hasn’t been specific.
NDP Leader Howard Hampton, a 51-year-old onetime labour lawyer and teacher, had boldly predicted his party would form the official Opposition.
But the NDP’s promise of public auto insurance and a public electricity system failed to resonate.
The Tory era was marked by rocky relations with Ottawa, but less than an hour after the polls closed, federal Industry Minister Allan Rock extended congratulations.
“I’m just so delighted and looking forward to working with Premier McGuinty and the whole team,” said Rock.
“We’re going to work very well together, we share a lot of values, a lot of objectives for Ontario for health care, for education, for the economy.”
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