Trudeau tells Toronto NDP ridings Liberal plans ‘most progressive’

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is targeting NDP ridings in Toronto Tuesday in an effort to capitalize on what his party sees as surging support in the final week of the campaign.

“We listened and together we built one of the most progressive platforms in Canadian history,” Trudeau said at an event in the riding of Beaches-East York.

“This election, the most progressive platform is the Liberal platform,” he told supporters who packed a restaurant and overflowed onto the sidewalk.

“Ours is the only plan that is being straight with you about what it is going to take to grow our economy,” Trudeau said in a reference to his party’s plan to run annual budget deficits for three years to pay for its programs.

“Ours is the only plan that will invest now in what Torontonians and what all Canadians need: transit and affordable housing,” he said, adding the Liberal plan to raise taxes on the very rich while reducing middle-class taxes would address the trend of growing income inequality.

Trudeau said NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair made a mistake in the campaign by promising for “political” purposes to adopt the same position as the Conservatives on the need to balance Ottawa’s books right away.

Beaches-East York has long been Liberal territory, but the incumbent is the NDP’s Matthew Kellway. Trudeau is also campaigning Tuesday in two other NDP-held ridings, Parkdale-High Park and Davenport.

It is a followup tactic to the Liberal effort on Monday, in which Trudeau made stops in areas of eastern Ontario in an appeal to “red Tory” voters. Encouraged by improving poll results, Trudeau’s advisers think the party is a position to draw in voters from both the right and left side of the political spectrum.

During a press conference, Trudeau said he would directly confront Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russia’s dangerous and irresponsible actions on the world stage.

“Canada needs to continue to stand strongly with the international community pushing back against the bully that is Vladimir Putin,” he told the media.

“If I have the opportunity in the coming months to meet with Vladimir Putin, I will tell him all this directly to his face because we need to ensure that Canada continues to stand strongly for peace and justice in the world.”

Trudeau also welcomed Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s efforts to promote the federal Liberals in Ontario during the Oct. 19 election campaign.

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