The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

economist sunsuntribune ontario votes 2003 saturday sept 20 2003 while tory leaders predecessor campaigned heavily in york region this time its liberal leader dalton mcguinty who is setting up shop here by lisa queen staff writer former premier mike harris launched the common sense revolution from newmarket resi dent lindsay masons kitchen when he called the 1995 election y f6ur years later mr harris who made numerous swings through york region before arid after becoming premier was back at ms masons home to kick off the 1999 election v v premier ernie eves electioneer ing style is conspicuously different than his predecessor during this election which culminates when voters go to the polls oct 2 i want to make it dear we take nothing for granted were pushing v very hard to get igggh our message out other than a stop at a thornhill factory sept 8 he has steered clear of campaigning in york although i hes scheduled to appear at a lunch 1 irimarkham tomorrow v contrast mr eves with liberal leader dalton mcguinty who has blanketed the region with personal appearances bom during the cam paign and for months leading up to the election vaughankingaurora mpp i greg sorbara ontario liberal party president says appearances by the leaders are telltale indications of theumportance parties assign to different communities i he said mr mcguinty is confi- dent the liberals will capture sever- i al ridings in york which would be a j significant victory since every rid- ing in the suburban regions around toronto went tory blue in 1995 and i 1999 mr sorbara won a byelection in june 2000 following the death of i former tory cabinet minister al palladini but oak ridges mpp frank wees maintained the tories will win yorks ridings adding mr eves is counting on strong conservative candidates to carry the pc message in the region during the election as a general rule mr sorbara said party strategists send leaders to areas they believe they can win why has dalton been in fork region so much we believe were going to win a significant number of seats oct 2 there are somany seats here and were determined to form a majority government he said i for the life of me cant figure out the strategy of the conservative campaign i dont know if theyye written off these areas nothing could be further from the truth mr klees said he insisted the fact mr eyfes has- been campaigning in other parts of the province does not mean hes neglecting york voters or is complav cent about their support the premier is certainly not ignoring york region on the other hand he does have three cabinet ministers in york region in whom i think he has a great deal of confi dence to carry the partys message in this election mr jqees said it only makes sense for the premier to focus his efforts on ridings where the tory message hasnt resonated in the past by comparison york voters have proven they embrace the conservative platform i want to make it clear we take nothing for granted were pushing very hard to get our message out hesaid oak ridges liberal candidate helena jaczek said mr mcguinty has made winning ridings in york a top priority m dalton mcguinty understands the concerns of these rapidly grow ing regions like york region she said staff photosjoerd witteveen ontario green party leader frank de jong campaigns near hwy 407 in markham last week with thornhill candidate bridget haworth and markham candidate bernadette manning mr de jong denounced the toriesplans to exfend 400series highways intheareal v green liader vows to end c obsession with automobile most would rather use public transit than rears de jong insists bymikeadler staff writer of ontarios politicians per haps only green party leader frank de jong would come to york region stand next to hwy 407 while it is roaring with traffic and declare most of us dont want to drive irs only young men from 15 to 25 who love their cars mr de jong said during a markham campaign stop monday the rest of us he said would rather be without one provided we can travel on conven- ient railbased transit speaking by the highway in the rain he later toned down his state- merit saying he thinks york region families would rather have just one car not two or three but his greens are determined to end what mr de jong who typi cally travels by bicycle calls this mad obsession with the private automobile as he denounced ontarios tories for promising again this week to build the bradford bypass arid to extend hwys 427 404 and 407 mr de jong said liberals and new democrats are equally road crazy in their support of highways that will bring more cars more loss of farmland and more smog the public school teacher and child of dutch immigrant farmers is campaigning for the third time as leader trie greens havent made many changes to a platform of sus tainable living communitybased economics and what it calls eco logical wisdom we still have our blunderbuss approach to issues mr de jong joked people need to hearthe truth because all theyre hearing is lies but looking at changes of the past four years municipalities moving away from pesticide use and toward better waste manage ment the province freezing most deyelopirient on the oak ridges moraine and at least talking about controlling suburban sprawl that green approach seems increasingly more mainstream the party running at 2per cent support provincewide is run ning a full slate of candidates for the first time in tight races it could be a spoil er as green us presidential can didate ralph nader was accused of jj being for democrats in 2000 i last week nipissinggreeri can didate todd lucier raised suchj a possibility by saying a torycon nected businessman offered him financial help presumably bec ause a strong green campaign would help the conservative win green candidate bridget haworth said she is working for her beliefs in thornhill where tory tina molinari won by just a few hundred votes in 1999 if green support proves the deciding factor thus time she said maybe that will get other parties to talk about another plank in the partys platform proportional rep resentation i i dont think im a spoiler i think the systems the spoiler said ms haworth an environmental consultant bernadette manning a home- maker running for the thirdtime as a green candidate in markharri said peoples attitudes toward the party are improving v people need to hear the truth because all theyre hearing is jies she said greens are still struggling with our firstpastthepost political system said lois james a four- time candidate for the federal greensv who first ran in 1984 f ssks5ss3 w 128 friday qct at the markham fairgrounds mccowan road 6 km north of hwy 7 irdaw octaber 9056421908 ext 227 or 18882217288 ext 227 wwwmarkhamhomeshowcom