TORONTO — Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie is pushing forward with a new election campaign strategy of trying to appeal to NDP voters, suggesting they should unite behind her as the way to topple the Progressive Conservatives.
Crombie is pitching herself as the strongest alternative to PC Leader Doug Ford, though polls suggest the Tories have a sizable lead over both the Liberals and NDP.
"I'm reaching out today to NDP voters, and I'm asking them, if you want to change our health-care system, please vote for Ontario's Liberals, and together, we can change the government," Crombie said at an event in Hamilton, a city with deep NDP roots.
"We have the momentum. We have the wind at our sails, but we can't make that change without your support."
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the Liberals' goal is just to try to get official party status.
"That just tells you everything you need to know about that party, where they're at," she said at an announcement in Toronto. "Their path is they're just trying to make party status. Look the truth is, my focus is, and continues to be, flipping blue seats to orange."
Political parties require at least 12 seats in the legislature to get party status, which gives them more resources and more opportunities to ask questions and participate in debates, and at dissolution the Liberals held nine.
Ford had been scheduled to fly to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., for an announcement, but the party says delays at Pearson International Airport prevented him from leaving Toronto.
There is no word on whether he will take questions today from reporters in Toronto instead.
Ford last took questions in Washington, D.C., when he and other Canadian premiers travelled there to push back against U.S. tariffs, but the last time he took questions in Ontario during the snap provincial election he called for Feb. 27 was one week ago Monday.
Stiles said Ford is "in hiding."
"Last night, after the debate, he wouldn't even stand up in front of the reporters," she said. "He will not defend his government. He will not take responsibility for the state of this province. He is hoping that people are just going to stay home and not vote."
- With files from Sammy Hudes in Toronto and Sharif Hassan in Hamilton
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2025.
Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
