Ont. NDP leader says election may be 8 months away but campaign is already on

By MICHAEL OLIVEIRA


TORONTO (CP) - A provincial election may still be eight months away but the campaign is already on, Ontario NDP Leader Howard Hampton said Saturday as he urged party supporters to spread the "Get Orange" word.

In an hour-long speech to enthusiastic supporters at the party's biennial convention - dubbed Fresh Ideas, New Energy - Hampton laid out the planks of his election platform, which he said were "issues that matter to working people." They include health care, jobs, the environment, energy, fair property taxes, an increased minimum wage and better funding for education.

The party has high hopes for the vote on Oct. 4 because voters are disappointed by the broken promises of Premier Dalton McGuinty, and rival John Tory is not a "scary" Conservative who is likely to trigger a lot of strategic voting for the Liberals, Hampton said.

"The Liberals want another election based on fear - that's the Liberal bread and butter - but it's not working for them. John Tory may be a very Tory guy but he's not a scary Tory guy," Hampton said.

"The cloud that we've sort of had over Ontario for 20 years where everything was the politics of fear - 'Oh, that Mike Harris is a scary guy, Ernie Eves is a scary guy' - I think that's gone."

Hampton unveiled an updated party logo and a bright colour scheme to go with its "Get Orange" campaign slogan and urged supporters to mobilize for three byelections in the ridings of Burlington, Markham and York South-Weston on Feb. 8.

"Our job to paint the province orange starts today," Hampton told delegates.

"Our message to Ontarians is clear: If you're seeing red because Dalton McGuinty hasn't delivered the change he promised, if the thought of Conservatives catering once again to the well-connected has you feeling blue, don't get mad, get orange."

Hampton said the party has had momentum ever since Cheri DiNovo's win in the September byelection in Parkdale-High Park, a riding vacated by Liberal Gerard Kennedy when he decided to run for leadership of the federal party.

Hampton wouldn't say if the party has a targeted number of seats it hopes to win in the October election but said the byelections will be a good opportunity to gauge what voters are thinking.

"Every byelection is a thermometer of where the public is at," Hampton said. "The byelections won't change the government, but they will give the McGuinty government a little shock when the votes are counted; a little orange shock."

Hampton also said the premier should call Ontario politicians from break and send them back to the legislature to increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour.

He repeatedly bashed McGuinty during his speech for pushing ahead a 25-per-cent pay hike for provincial politicians and said the province's poor are more deserving of a raise.

"If the McGuinty government could ram through their .. pay increase in eight days. they should call the legislature back and let's address the minimum wage bill in eight days," Hampton said.

"I think the minimum wage issue is far more pressing than Dalton McGuinty getting a $40,000 pay increase."