Liberal Leader Stephane Dion promised not to abandon Ontario's beleaguered manufacturing sector as he made his first campaign stop in the GTA.
He told a partisan crowd in Pickering on Tuesday evening that when Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Ontario was the last place anyone should invest, "that was a firing offence."
Flaherty's "laissez-faire, I-don't-care approach to the economy is making the economy worse than it should be, and it explains why the Conservatives have no plan to help," he said.
Flaherty's Whitby-Oshawa riding is next to Ajax-Pickering, the riding of Liberal incumbent Mark Holland.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper made a stop at John Paul II Polish Cultural Centre in Mississauga for a campaign rally. He told supporters that his ministers had previously used the hall to announce that visa requirements would be removed for visitors from several Eastern European countries.
NDP Leader Jack Layton, who represents the Toronto-Danforth riding, had campaign stops planned for Regina and Thunder Bay, Ont. He hasn't campaigned yet in Toronto or the wider GTA since the Oct. 14 vote was announced Sunday.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May kicked off the campaign in Guelph, Ont. but is spending the day campaigning in Nova Scotia. She is running to unseat Peter Mackay, the Conservative incumbent in that province's Central Nova riding and defence minister.
Harper's visit occurs in a GTA area where the Tories hope to make gains. The Tories have a beachhead in Mississauga-Streetsville after MP Wajid Khan jumped from to the Tories from the Liberals in early 2007.
Four "battleground" exist ridings in the area -- Mississauga South, Oakville, Halton and Burlington. The Tories hold Burlington and came very close in Oakville in 2006. Garth Turner took Halton for the Tories, got drummed out of caucus and then joined the Liberals in early 2007.
In the 905 belt from Burlington to Oshawa, the Liberals hold 15 seats and the Tories four. The NDP find themselves shut out in the area.
In Toronto itself, the Liberals hold 20 of 23 seats. The NDP hold three, with the Tories being shut out in 2006.
