Voters in Ontario get one last chance on Sunday to see the three main party leaders face off before an increasingly unpredictable June 7 election.
Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath will debate for 90 minutes at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in downtown Toronto. The event will be moderated by journalists Steve Paikin and Farah Nasser.
The high stakes parley comes at an important crossroads in what has proven to be a volatile campaign. A lot has changed since the trio last met face-to-face. Less than two weeks from election day, some polls suggest that a considerable PC lead has all but evaporated. The NDP are closing the gap, while the Liberals may be facing political disaster.
The NDP are enjoying what one pollster described as an unprecedented upswing in public support. In pockets across the province, ridings once considered locks for one party are in contention.
Horwath can't afford to let the debate put the brakes on the NDP's newfound momentum. But there's little doubt she'll face crossfire from both Wynne and Ford, especially given her party's significant accounting error in their costed platform (Ontario's auditor general has also taken issue with Liberal deficit numbers) and a number of recent candidate controversies.
Ford, himself facing allegations of wrongdoing in a PC nomination race and lingering questions about a PC candidate's alleged involvement in a data breach at 407 ETR, has unveiled a number of populist policy proposals in recent days. Coming into the debate, he's the only leader without a costed platform.
Ford will likely be looking to cauterize his party's bleeding support, while allaying the anxieties of undecided voters who are hungry for change but wary of Ford's characteristic style of politics.
For her part, Wynne has been defiant in the face of daunting poll numbers. Her campaign mantra has been "care over cuts," and Wynne has largely stayed on message while her war room fights a two-front battle for whatever seats can be salvaged come June 7.
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