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Prime Minister Stephen Harper kicked off a quick swing through the GTA and southwestern Ontario with a campaign-style speech that served as a rallying cry to party faithful.
With four by-elections looming – including two in Ontario – and the strong whiff of a federal fall election in the air, Harper mocked Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion last night as a weak leader who has never made good on his threat to defeat Harper's government.
Harper said the current Parliament "has become quite a soap opera." The Prime Minister did not repeat his suggestion of last week that he might move to dissolve his own government, but he quoted deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff's comment to a B.C. radio station that the Liberals were ready for Harper to "bring it on."
Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae "said it should be before the end of the year, and Mr. Dion said the government should be defeated but he needs better polls first," Harper added.
While "this Liberal soap opera has been going on," his government has been establishing a record to be proud of, Harper added.
Conservative caucus members, candidates and about 400 party activists from across the GTA attended a party barbecue last night at the Croatian Parish Park in Mississauga. They cheered as Harper taunted Dion, and boasted of his own government's record of cutting taxes, toughening criminal laws and consumer safety regulations, and pouring money into infrastructure.
Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion attended the rally, at which Harper played up his Toronto-area roots.
Making a push through what his aides call a "vote-rich" region, Harper said the Liberals' claim that their "green shift" scheme would cut some taxes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions "is not believable."
"There is only one way to cut taxes and to keep them going down and that is to keep this Conservative government in office."
But recent polls show Harper has work to do in Ontario, where the Liberals have a lead at the moment.
Jeff Walker, of Harris-Decima, said in an interview leadership is an issue facing both the Liberals and the Conservatives in Ontario.
His firm's data shows the Liberals leading with about 40 to 41 per cent approval ratings over the Conservatives' 31 per cent, but Walker says Liberal support is more tenuous than the Conservatives', whose committed supporters "are never going to vote for anybody else."
Walker says a majority government doesn't appear to be in the cards for any party.
Conservatives are downplaying expectations for the two Ontario by-elections in ridings that were held by Liberal MPs who retired – Guelph on Sept. 8, and Don Valley West on Sept. 22. The Toronto riding was once Conservative but has not seen a demographic shift in the Conservatives' favour, while Guelph has a university community and many public servants.
Today, Harper is scheduled to make an announcement at Hamilton General Hospital and attend a Dieppe veterans' memorial service before travelling to London, where he will tour the General Dynamics LAV plant, and Kitchener, where he will attend a party event.
