Ontario candidates woo rural voters
Instead of their party platforms, candidates’ prowess with the plow took centre stage at a special event in the Ontario election campaign on Tuesday.
In what has become an annual political tradition in Ontario, party leaders gathered for the International Plowing Match. This year’s event was held in Chute-à-Blondeau, a village about 145 kilometres east of Ottawa.
Outside of the Sept. 27 leaders debate, the plowing match will likely be the only time leaders of Ontario’s three major political parties will stand in the same spot at once. Green Party leader Mike Schreiner also attended.
Farmers were there to see who could cut the finest furrow. But the event, which is held even in non-election years and rotates from farm to farm each year, is also a major photo-op for provincial politicos.
'A celebration of agriculture'
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the event is not just a show for the cameras, but also a chance for candidates to remember the crucial role farmers play in the province.
"It's a celebration of agriculture and rural Ontario," said Horwath. "All leaders go because it's to acknowledge what a backbone [farming] is not only to our ability to feed ourselves, but also to our economy as well."
CBC provincial affairs reporter Mike Crawley said the plowing match is about much more than bragging rights for the party leaders.
"This is all about trying to win rural votes," reported Crawley Tuesday on CBC Radio. "We often say that the election is going to be won or lost in urban areas like the 905 in Toronto but the fact is the Liberals hold a lot of seats in southwestern Ontario and eastern Ontario that the PC’s really have their eyes on.
"Also there’s northern Ontario seats that are in rural areas that the NDP is targeting. Farmers vote and they also care a lot about the party’s agricultural parties so we will be hearing more about that this afternoon."
McGuinty's ride was a red Massey Ferguson, Hudak's a blue Ford, Horwath's an orange Kubota tractor and Schreiner was a green John Deere.
With files from CBC's Mike Crawley, The Canadian Press