TORONTO — Bonnie Crombie, the brand new chief of the Ontario Liberal Get together, says she hasn’t seen the assault advertisements the Progressive Conservatives have launched towards her — however she has loads of ideas on them.
“I wouldn’t waste my time,” she mentioned in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press.
“It is a authorities that’s determined and losing thousands and thousands of {dollars} on baseless advertisements, (with) false allegations about me, as a substitute of specializing in the priorities of Ontarians.”
The radio and tv advertisements had been put collectively very quickly after Liberal members chosen Crombie as their new chief on Dec. 2, in an try by the governing Tories to outline her earlier than the Liberals get an opportunity to introduce her to voters provincewide.
The advertisements painting her as an elite who will elevate taxes and are the sort extra sometimes seen within the run-up to an election or throughout a marketing campaign, as a substitute of two 1/2 years away from one.
“It actually exhibits an absence of civility as effectively with the federal government,” Crombie mentioned, noting that Premier Doug Ford by no means congratulated her on her victory, one thing that’s sometimes completed consistent with political customs.
The Tories take a look at drove their framing of Crombie on the day of her win as chief of the third-place Liberals.
“She doesn’t get the issues of on a regular basis individuals,” the occasion wrote in a press release. “She drives fancy vehicles and holidays at her house within the Hamptons.”
The home was left to her by shut relations who died and whereas it’s on New York’s Lengthy Island, it isn’t truly within the Hamptons, Crombie famous.
“It is a scandal-plagued authorities that’s determined to vary the channel,” Crombie mentioned.
She rattled off a listing of coverage reversals beneath Ford, together with this yr’s main Greenbelt reversal and his current choice to undo the dissolution of Peel Area, a problem Crombie had lengthy championed because the mayor of Mississauga, which is a part of Peel.
Crombie is continuous to push for Ford to reverse his reversal on Peel, insisting that eradicating the upper-tier degree of presidency would minimize out waste and duplication, and in the end save taxpayers cash.
Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra has mentioned he believes that dissolving the Area of Peel would improve taxes.
Crombie mentioned if there was proof that dissolution could be “very pricey for taxpayers” she wouldn’t transfer ahead with it if she turns into premier, however she is assured that’s not the case. She urged the federal government to let the transition board it appointed truly end the work of crunching these numbers earlier than making a ultimate choice.
“I acknowledge for those who’ve listened to Ontarians and made an error, superb, you flip it, however this has been a dozen or so stroll backs,” she mentioned.
“It’s a authorities that doesn’t do its homework.”
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