Your Home, Your Vote: Leaders prep for debate

The provincial election is little more than a week away, but the campaign could change dramatically after tomorrow.

That’s when the leaders debate the issues based on your questions right here on CHCH. Most of the party leaders are taking it easy today to prepare.

Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty has just one event: a women’s leadership lunch in Toronto. He is on the defensive since pledging over the weekend to scrap an unpopular power plant in Mississauga. Opposition parties are calling it his latest flip-flop.

Tim Hudak meanwhile is still battling his image. He was shaking hands at a Mississauga GO station this morning, and one long-time Liberal voter said she was surprised at how amiable he seems in person. Hudak then went on to Conestoga College in Kitchener and is at a Toronto auto collision centre this afternoon.

Andrea Horwath has no public appearances scheduled today. Lately she’s trying to paint her party as the one with the best plan to handle an economic downturn, with a $2 billion contingency fund in her financial blueprint. But she’s also facing criticism: the Liberals say some of her savings would mean hundreds of nurses and home care workers would lose their jobs.

Pundits say the polls are so close between the Liberals and PCs that Ontario could end up with a minority government.

The turning point could be the leaders debate. We saw what happened last April when Jack Layton pointed out Michael Ignatieff’s attendence record: the worst in Parliament.

This is the first debate for two new leaders, Horwath and Hudak. Dalton McGuinty is a veteran of these debates. Will it give him an edge? You be the judge. Watch all three leaders answer questions from the public right here on CHCH, tomorrow at 6:30 pm.

Election night is just 10 days away. You will find comprehensive coverage on Your Home, Your Vote, Thursday, October 6th, at 9 pm on CHCH.

Video: Lisa Hepfner reports: