What The Liberals Say About The Other Parties

I had the pleasure recently of interviewing the Liberal candidate for Mississauga Centre- 42 year-old Bobbie Daid. I asked her how the Liberal party is different from the NDP and the PCs and what she thinks of Andrea Horwath and Doug Ford. Here is what she said:

You’re both left-wing parties so what makes the Liberal Party different from the NDP?

“I don’t think we’re both left-wing parties,” she said. “With my background in hotels and hospitality, running a multi-million dollar company and then deciding to want to run for the Liberals, I don’t consider them a left-wing party. I do consider them fiscally responsible- I am aggressively fiscally responsible as many business owners are.”

“I think the main difference here between our plan and what I think is the goodwill plan of the NDP is ours is fully costed. So if you look at the NDP plan I think the vision is an immediate vision maybe till June 7th, may I say, and then after that- I have a financial background- I don’t see that being a sustainable vision for the future because the number don’t add up.”

What sets you apart from the Conservatives?

“Where do I start with this one? First of all, I’d like to see them able to orate clearly what their platform actually is- all I’m hearing is bumper stickers,” she said. “When I hear he’s got this slogan ‘Ontario’s open for business’ I’m confused- what does that mean? I run many hotel properties across the province- we’ve been open for business for many many years under this Liberal government; Amazon has us shortlisted, we are definitely open for business so I think we have to be careful with those taglines. We know who’s famous for taglines.”

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“They’re starting to mismanage themselves with this 407 debacle… It’s a story that needs to be investigated, I travel the 407 like many other people of the province, people that are out of province, and for a security breach of that sort, of that magnitude, I don’t even know how and there needs to be an internal investigation; not just a PC investigation of that. Although they should make that public as well.”

What do you think of Doug Ford as a leader?

“I think that Doug Ford is… trying to do fly-by politics at night. So what works with an audience in front of him that day he thinks will work for the rest of the province. He said something about ‘I’m in it for my people’… and he doesn’t state who he’s fighting for- who is he considering ‘my people’?”

“Is his people young families? Is his people new immigrants? Young women? Women in business? Stay at home moms? Because I see cuts ahead of vulnerable groups as opposed to investments in these very vulnerable groups. I know his people cannot be considered minimum wage because he has said he didn’t value the $14 an hour and he’s not moving to the $15 an hour. So I don’t see how policies match bumper stickers match a platform…It’s hard for us to comment on what they’re actually planning on doing.”

What do you think of Andrea Horwath?

“If you’re not making bumper sticker promises then you’re making blatant promises that are not affordable. If she’s building out a deficit, which she clearly is, which the party is; and that’s okay- making investments in people and in the infrastructure of Ontario, families and students of Ontario is very important, however… you really have to have the cost behind that.”

“There’s no magic where the money’s going to come from it has to be allocated and budgeted for and planned out so what I think… they need to read the platforms and they need to figure out which platform speaks to them.”

What’s your plan for the election given Wynne’s unpopularity?

“I haven’t actually had a lot of anti-establishment, shall I say, at the door. I think voters can see that there’s a clear choice at the door, and when I get to the door they realize that parties policies- more so their values- is something that they- I’ll give you an example when I got to the door I had one voter talk about immigration. That was important to him, he had a new wife, I believe she came over from Italy and so he said that she had to jump through a lot of hoops. I understand that this is a federal issue but he believes that the Liberals were very open and aggressively investing in our immigration policies.”