Glass says don’t write off the Liberals in Nipissing

Stephen Glass is feeling a sense of optimism despite the recent provincial polls that have the Liberals sitting in third spot behind the PC and NDP parties.  

“I’m not surprised as we are in the middle of the election that there are still people kicking tires of the NDP who have quite frankly gotten a pretty free ride from everyone including us, we’ve been so focussed on Mr. Ford,” stated Glass to BayToday.ca 

Henri Giroux, NDP candidate in Nipissing says he’s getting the feeling that the Liberal vote in Nipissing is swaying towards orange.   

“Every door I go to I hear the Liberals that are leaning towards us and when they tell me they are undecided I know they are not really undecided but I know they are going to be voting for us,” Giroux told the media at a barbecue at the ONR shops on Tuesday.  

Glass retorted with some sarcasm.  

“I am glad that he is clairvoyant,” stated Glass about Giroux’s claim.  

“When people tell me they are undecided I don’t jump to the conclusion that they are voting for me. In fact, the overwhelming trend that I see as we go door to door is there is a sort of element of ‘none of the above.’”

Glass attacked the NDP saying they do not have a sharp eye on the budget, pointing out the 1.4 billion dollar error on their budget plan relating to the contingency fund.   

On the other hand, Glass criticized the PC's for not having a costed budget.  

“They have refused to put forward a campaign platform with a costed budget, and they are hiding because they have got somewhere between 14 and 20 billion dollars that they will have to get rid of in order to balance the budget,” said Glass. 

“They criticize us for a 6.5 billion dollar commitment to care over cuts and yet their hole is twice as deep without the care.”  

However, Fedeli claims each announcement made by the PC's has come with a price tag attached. 

"In the case of the Liberals, the Auditor General has said they will run $12 billion deficits for years to come," Fedeli said in an email to Baytoday.ca.  

"The NDP platform also promises years of multi-billion dollar deficits, compounded by a math mistake that adds up to more than $7 billion. Is anyone asking them what they plan to cut to make up for that error?

"Recently the Auditor General found $1 billion in efficiencies looking at just 14 agencies without one job being lost.  Imagine what we can find if we look at the hundreds of government agencies that exist."

Glass says that going door to door he continues to get the feeling Nipissing voters are scared of Doug Ford.   

“There is an incredibly strong aversion to Mr. Ford and I would say that aversion extends deeply into the conservative vote as well. It is not just a mild feeling, it is a really strong feeling, it is sort of a ‘Not Doug Ford’ vibe across the campaign,” said Glass.  

Also today, Premier Wynne was in Sudbury claiming the Ontario Liberals are the only party that will continue working with northern communities to invest in good jobs.