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INTRODUCTION

Thank you for that kind introduction Cheri/Peter (Tabuns)]. And thank you for that warm welcome.

Thank you – everyone – for coming here to the Leader’s Election Dinner. In case you haven’t heard – as of yesterday we are in an election campaign.

I also want to thank my friend Gary Doer – Premier Doer – for his kind words. Unfortunately he was unable to join us here in person, he’s busy recalling the Manitoba Legislature, and introducing yet another balanced budget. Because two weeks ago Gary Doer and Manitoba’s NDP were just re-elected to an unprecedented third successive majority government.

My friends, if you want to know what an NDP government would do, just look at Gary Doer’s Manitoba. Average take home pay has increased 56%, the Manitoba economy has grown 38%, and working families pay among the lowest hydro rates, car insurance, child care fees in Canada. Child poverty has been cut by one third and social assistance rolls have been reduced. And good paying jobs have been created each year since the NDP was first elected. And there’s much more.

Premier Gary Doer’s approval rating is 70% and he’s known as the Premier who keeps his word. Gary Doer and the Manitoba NDP show how you get things done for hard-working families.

You know, imitation is a form of flattery. And we have a Premier in this province who also wants to be re-elected. But he has a very different record. He hardly ever keeps his word. He’s presided over the loss of 175,000 good manufacturing jobs. Instead of lowering hydro rates, he’s raised them. Instead of reducing child poverty, he’s allowed it to worsen.

But Dalton McGuinty thinks that by borrowing the Gary Doer campaign and pouring on the photo-ops, he can replicate the Gary Doer success story in Ontario. It’s quite uncanny, in fact. Look at the Gary Doer NDP leaflets and they talk about moving Forward, not Back. This week we heard Dalton McGuinty use exactly the same language in Question Period.

Imagine, Dalton McGuinty a Gary Doer wanna-be.

Well, I can’t resist a familiar paraphrase. Mr. McGuinty, I know Gary Doer. He’s a good friend of mine and a great Premier. Mr. McGuinty, you are no Gary Doer.

I also want to pay tribute to the Cornerstone Campaign. In a couple of hours we will own our own home. In a couple of hours, we will own our own future. Never again will our ability to run an effective campaign on the issues depend on searching high and low across Ontario looking for a friendly bank manager.

In many ways, this is an historic evening.

I say thanks to all the Cornerstone contributors, many of whom are here tonight, for your generosity and your vision. I particularly want to thank the “cornerstones” of the cornerstone campaign: Diane O’Reggio and Michael Lewis, Sandra Clifford and Dennis Young, and their team, for their incredible hard work and commitment over the last several years. In many ways this is their night, and I want to thank them for all of us.

Well, it’s four months until election day. And it’s going to be quite a ride!

We have the momentum.

You can feel it out there, on the streets and in the workplaces.

We have the makings of the best team of candidates ever - including the person who shocked the Liberals in February - the new MPP for York South-Weston - the NDP's Paul Ferreira!

What an amazing victory. We erased a supposedly insurmountable 13,000-vote lead. We took back the riding of the great Donald MacDonald. And together with the voters of York South-Weston, we sent Dalton McGuinty a message that working people reject a Premier and government that raise their own pay by $40,000 a year – but at the same time tell the lowest paid workers in the province to wait threes for a $10 and hour minimum wage.

Our victory in York South-Weston is the latest example of something that's happening all across Ontario.

It happened last Fall in Parkdale-High Park, where the McGuinty attack dogs tried to bully a United Church Minister and got taught a lesson. Now that United Church Minister is a powerhouse at Queen’s Park and Cheri DiNovo is making them take notice across this province.

It happened last Spring in Toronto Danforth when Peter Tabuns, an extraordinarily energetic advocate for his community and the environment showed decisively the NDP is back.

And before that in Hamilton East where Andrea Horwath sent Dalton McGuinty a loud wake-up call that working men and women don’t like being taken for granted by an out-of-touch government.

It's called the "safe seat shocker." That's when we go into a so called Liberal stronghold, buck the odds and elect a strong, principled New Democrat.

We have learned that Ontarians aren’t interested in SAFE seats. They want SMART seats. Held by SMART, hard-working people – kind of people who are here tonight.

The kind of smart, hard-working people who are coming forward to run as our candidates. We have the candidates, we’ve got the workers, and thanks to you here tonight will have the fundraising to spark a wave of safe seat shockers. In the South. In the East. In the West. In the North. And right here in the City of Toronto. Together, we can make it happen.

WHAT THE ELECTION IS ABOUT

Now I know most of you here don’t follow Queen’s Park on a regular basis. You have a life – a real life. But if you did follow Queen’s Park you would know that the McGuinty government finally stood up, showed some leadership and in eight short days pushed through historic action on his No. 1 priority --

Health care? No. Education? No. The environment? No. Fair wages for workers? No.

No – Mr. McGuinty moved forward on what he saw as the greatest challenge for his government:

A $40,000 pay raise. Why the McGuinty government even had a special extended session of the legislature and used time allocation so that in eight short days, over Christmas, Mr. McGuinty gave himself a $40,000 raise.

Mr. McGuinty called the pay raise “long overdue.”

I call it a fiasco. Actually the word fiasco is a polite understatement. Calling a 31 per cent raise – a $40,000 increase - a fiasco, is like referring to a hurricane as Good Kite Flying Weather.

It’s a fiasco because while too many working families are struggling to climb UP out of a debt hole, the McGuinty Liberals are struggling to climb DOWN from a money pile. For the record, that’s NOT how politicians are SUPPOSED to empathize to their constituents. Though if a Liberal were to break his ankle on that climb, he might learn the real meaning of empathy…. if he had to wait for 12 hours to be treated at a hospital emergency room.

I spend a lot of time with working people. In the last few weeks, I was in Thunder Bay, Brantford, Windsor and Stratford to meet with families stung by the loss of their jobs. They wonder how to make a decent living and pay the bills.

And like other parents with young children – Shelley and I spend a lot of time at the hockey rink with hockey moms and dads. And after we talk about the bad coffee and cold hot dogs –which we still drink and eat because, well, that’s the reality in hockey rinks – we hear about their concerns, what weighs on their minds.

These are parents like Shelley and me, who want to see their children grown, develop and learn.

They do worry about long waiting times in the emergency room at their local hospital for their kids and their elderly parents. They worry community schools and ESL programs are on the chopping block because Dalton McGuinty hasn’t fixed the Conservatives’ flawed school funding formula like they promised. They ask why affordable, regulated child care just isn’t available. And they worry about climate change and the future we're leaving for our children and grandchildren.

But strange that - not one person I’ve talked to puts a $40,000 raise for Dalton McGuinty at the top of their list of priorities.

Today's hard-working families know what Dalton McGuinty’s $40,000 pay raise means. It means Dalton McGuinty is completely out of touch. It means he is so busy rewarding himself and his Liberal friends that he has forgotten Ontario's working families and the challenges they face in their everyday lives.

I mean, how IN touch can you be when you give yourself in one fell swoop a pay raise that’s more than the average Ontarian earns in a year?

I’m asked what is this election about?

It's about the hard-working families at the hockey rink. It's about who's in their corner. Who's on their side. Who they can trust to stand up for them. For their families. For their communities. For first-rate public services.

It’s about who will provide real leadership for working families across this province – not the Liberal kind of leadership that says, “We’ll take care of you … right after I deposit YOUR money in MY bank account.”

FAIRNESS

It’s time for some leadership. It's time for some fairness. And it’s Ontario’s NDP that’s providing it.

Here’s what I mean by fairness.

Health care

When today’s families pay more for health care because of a regressive health tax but get less health care, that’s not fair. We need to unclog our emergency rooms. We need to stand up for the hard-working, dedicated health care workers who come in early, work through their breaks, work through their lunches and go home late – all for their patients. We need to invest in better home care and long-term care for the seniors who built this province. And we need o stand up for Medicare, to fight for public hospitals not private profit-driven ones.

And that’s the NDP.

Hospitals are SUPPOSED to be public, not profit-driven. Given the McGuinty fascination with profit driven private hospitals I suspect that would be a lot more private, profit driven hospitals if they thought they could get away with it. I can’t help but think that if the McGuinty Liberals had their way, they’d be contracting out health care to big box outlet malls. Do we really want to have surgery done in aisle 46 of Wal-Mart, next to tires and men’s underwear? The Costco Catscan, maybe? The Home Depot Heart Bypass?

No we don’t. If we have $10 for health care, $10 should go to health care. Not $7 to health care and $3 to profits. That’s what New Democrats are fighting for in health care.

Environment

When children need puffers to breathe the air, and seniors can’t go outside on smoggy summer days, that’s not fair. And we need someone who will shut down the Nanticoke coal plant and take real action to fight global warming – to make sure Ontario meets its Kyoto targets by 2012 – to make sure we take action now so the future for our children and grandchildren is green and bright.

And that’s the NDP. Our commitment to the environment is long standing – not just something we discover at election time.

Education

When children are selling chocolate bars and holding skip-a-thons to pay for school essentials, when we are losing the ESL instructors and support staff that our kids need to learn and develop, that’s not fair. We need someone to fight for better public education - to fix the funding formula - to support hard-working education workers – to put our children first.

And that’s the NDP.

Autism

When parents with autistic children have to drain their savings and take out mortgages to pay for treatment, that’s not fair. We need someone to do what Dalton McGuinty promised he'd do - provide access to treatment to every child who needs it regardless of their financial situation.

And that’s the NDP.

North

When Dalton McGuinty's sky-high electricity policies and his support for Stephen Harper's softwood sellout kill thousands of Northern Ontario forestry jobs, that's not fair. And we need someone who will fight to sustain Northern jobs and communities.

And that's the NDP.

Rural Ontario

When Ontario farm families work hard and play by the rules but can’t make a decent living, and Liberals only offer help just before the election, that’s not fair. We need someone who will listen to the needs and aspirations of rural Ontario, respond to its challenges and sustain the family farm.

And that’s the NDP.

Jobs

When 175,000 men and women in manufacturing and resource communities lose their jobs and the premier won’t help, that’s not fair. And you need someone who will put working families first by fighting to keep good-paying manufacturing and resource jobs in the province of Ontario.

And that’s the NDP.

Colle-gate

When Dalton McGuinty cheats hundreds of hard-working, deserving community and multicultural organizations out of the chance to apply for government funding because he's given some Liberal insiders the inside track, that's not fair.

We need someone to make sure all our newcomer communities are treated fairly - and their efforts to build a better Ontario are supported.

And that's the NDP.

$10 minimum wage

When Dalton McGuinty can give himself a $40,000 raise in eight short days but Ontario’s lowest-paid workers have to wait three years for a $10 minimum wage, that’s not fair. We need someone who will raise the minimum wage to a living wage
for today’s hardworking families NOW. Not three years from now. TODAY.

And that’s the NDP.

Summation

And when Dalton McGuinty promises anything to win votes then breaks promises like plates at a Greek wedding, that's not fair. We need someone you can count on – a Party everyday people trust will be in their corner – a team of candidates who understand working families and will always put them first.

And that's the NDP.

CONCLUSION

Today, as we speak Liberal insiders, high-priced lobbyists and spin doctors are getting ready to run a very negative campaign. They are desperate to hold onto power. That's all they care about. They will do anything, say anything, promise anything to hold onto it. We sat that in the Parkdale-High Park by-election when they viciously attacked a courageous and principled church minister, Cheri DiNovo.

The McGuinty government has a big problem that won’t go away. The problem of trust. A Premier who will promise anything just before the election but break those promises right after isn’t to be trusted.

In the end, that's what this campaign is about.

As for the Conservatives people know John Tory and the Conservatives don’t represent working families. They know they speak up for powerful and wealthy interests. They know they are wrong on all the issues that matter to everyday families.

That’s why New Democrats offer people a real choice in this election, a different kind of politics -- the politics of people working together - the politics of hope – the politics of making life better for working people.

Dalton McGuinty will have to explain four years of breaking promises and letting people down.

I choose the politics of hope. I want people to vote for New Democrats because we represent the interests of ordinary working people. I want people to vote NDP because we have thoughtful and practical ideas to make working peoples’ lives better and more affordable. I want people to vote NDP because we’ll fight for high-quality public services. I want people to vote NDP because we put ordinary people first.

So I say to Mr. McGuinty …

Leadership isn’t looking out for yourself and your friends. It’s not telling the lowest paid workers to wait three years for a pay raise while you gave yourself a $40,000 pay raise.

Leadership is standing up and helping working men and women support their families.

Leadership is fighting for the public good.

Leadership is putting working families first.

And that’s the kind of leadership you can count on from New Democrats.

I invite everyone here to get involved with our campaign so that working together – we can build a better Ontario – an Ontario that puts working families first. Thank you.