Leaders talk hydro, nurses and transit

Hydro, nurses and transit are the hot topics on Ontario’s election campaign trail this afternoon.

Andrea Horwath was in Sarnia this morning and talked about her hydro plans. If elected, she says she would merge four of the five agencies that run Ontario’s power system and cap the salaries of the CEOs in charge. Horwath promises to scrap the provincial sales tax on residential hydro.

Meanwhile, Kathleen Wynne was at the West Park Healthcare Centre in Toronto today.

In an effort to strengthen the province’s healthcare system she is promising to expand the roles and responsibilities of nurses.

Wynne hopes to speed up patient diagnosis by allowing nurses to prescribe medications and order tests like MRIs and CT scans. She also says it would be difficult for the PC leader to cut 100,000 public sector jobs without hurting the healthcare system.

“If Tim Hudak is saying he can cut 100,000 jobs from government without touching 70 per cent — Without touching nearly 50 per cent because healthcare is nearly 50 per cent. With education it’s 70 per cent of the budget — it’s a very hard thing to imagine healthcare would not be affected,” said Wynne.

The Progressive Conservative leader talked transit this morning in Toronto. He says, if elected, he would expand GO Transit service. He promises two-way, all-day options.
But Hudak says he won’t electrify GO trains.

“You’ve got a choice with the dollars. Do you want to do that project, which costs billions, or do you actually want to use it to improve our highways? I would use that money to expand GO service and our highways,” said Hudak.

The Conservatives say better GO service will mean more time spent with the kids and 96,000 well-paying, full-time jobs.