Horwath ends NDP convention on a high note

The Toronto Star:

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is courting Ontario voters with something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.

There is the old — effectively putting Ontario Hydro back together again by merging Ontario Power Generation, Hydro One, the Independent Electricity System Operator, and the Ontario Power Authority.

There is the new — a rookie leader unafraid to play the coquette card with Dorothy Parker-like wisecracks, a far cry from her often-dour predecessor Howard Hampton.

There is the borrowed — blending Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty’s 1999 campaign slogan, “Putting People First” with his 2003 motto “Choose Change,” for the NDP’s centre-left manifesto, “Change That Puts People First.”

And there is the blue — populist tax cuts traditionally associated with Conservatives.

With headline-grabbing pledges like gradually reducing the 13 per cent harmonized sales tax on gasoline, eventually eliminating the 8 per cent provincial portion on energy bills, freezing municipal transit fares and raising the minimum wage from $10.25 an hour to $11, she is optimistic about the fall vote.

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