Horwath makes her pitch to keep Sudbury orange

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is blasting the government for implying electing a Liberal in the Feb. 5 byelection will mean more provincial money for Sudbury.

“It is a very cynical ploy,” Horwath said in a recent interview. “That's the perception the Liberals try to sell, right? And I say shame on them for that. They try to sell this idea that somehow by electing another Liberal yes-man, that somehow it's going to make a difference in the community.

“But we know this is what Liberals do. It's the same thing they did, frankly, when they pushed (Andrew) Olivier out of the race. They offer you the sun and the moon and the stars in hopes that you'll … do what they want you to do.”

Horwath has been in Sudbury several times ahead of the vote, trying to help the NDP retain a seat it wrested from the Liberals in the June election. Despite the bad headlines generated by the Olivier scandal, polls show NDP candidate Suzanne Shawbonquit is in a tight race with Liberal candidate Glenn Thibeault, the former NDP MP. Most polls so far this campaign have Olivier third.

“Polls are a picture of a single day,” Horwath said. “I don't pay too, too much attention to polls. We'll just keep our nose to the grindstone and work hard connecting with as many people in Sudbury as possible.”

While Shawbonquit lacks political experience, and has struggled at times to get a grasp on the issues, Horwath said she has what it takes to be a great representative for Sudbury.

“Her best credential is herself as a human being,” she said. “When people meet her, they feel her warmth, they see her passion. All her attributes jump right out at you.

“If you have a passion for your community, if you have a desire to really work for people, to work hard, to work with integrity and thoughtfulness, then you can succeed as a New Democrat.”

The Sudbury byelection was called after former NDP MPP Joe Cimino resigned in November, citing personal and health reasons. That puts voters in the unusual position of electing their representative knowing who will be in government for the next 3 ½ years.

While former Liberal cabinet minister Rick Bartolucci was dubbed “the minister of money” for his perceived ability to deliver provincial dollars to his Sudbury riding, Horwath disputes that idea.

“Bartolucci didn't bring the PET scanner here,” she said. “But I don't believe Sudbury did all that well with a sitting cabinet minister. Let's look at what happened with the Ring of Fire. We saw great announcements, we saw great ribbon cuttings, all kinds of talk. But did we see one dime of investment? No.”

And if Premier Kathleen Wynne is serious about funding projects here, Horwath said she shouldn't hold voters “ransom” until after the election.

“If Kathleen Wynne is serious about Maley Drive, and is serious about a PET scanner here, I dare her to make those announcements now,” she said.

“Make them during the campaign. Don't wait till the campaign is over. Don't hold the people of Sudbury ransom in a byelection campaign. It's reprehensible, it's unseemly and it's the most base type of politics. It does make people cynical.”

And she argued that it has been the NDP's northern caucus that has brought to light a number of issues that forced the government to act.

“It was the NDP who sounded the alarm bells on the ONTC. Were we able to save the passenger train? No, we weren't,” she said. “But we forced the government to reverse its tracks in terms of the wholesale sell off of the rest of the assets there. That's something we're proud of.

“When it came to the winter roads, who was it that put the website up that got input from northerners about the condition of the roads and used that evidence as the voice of northerners in the Legislature to force the Liberals to take responsibility for the carnage that was happening here on Northern roads last winter?”

She repeated a phrase her party has used often when it comes to Thibeault, calling him “another Liberal yes-man.”

“He's someone who will go along with the decisions made in Toronto, then come back here and make excuses, is not going to help Sudbury at all,” she said. “So you can have a Liberal who just makes excuses for what the government is doing, or a New Democrat who is fighting to get what Northerners deserve.”