Wynne: 'Am I going to give up? Absolutely not'

The election may be just under two weeks away but voting has already started. You can vote at your returning office right now, while advance voting opens tomorrow. And though he's not getting involved in this election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be casting his ballot Friday night in Ottawa. Wonder who he is voting for?

Here's where we are on day 17.

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The moment

Wynne says she's not giving up on campaign

7 years ago

Duration 0:45

Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne responded to reporters in Toronto about her party's low status in the polls.

"If you're asking me, 'Am I going to give up?' absolutely not, absolutely not."

That's how Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne responded to reporter questions about polling numbers that suggest her party will take a pounding on June 7.

"I'm not prepared to say, 'Well it looks like the polls are bad so I'm going to sit this one out," Wynne told reporters at Ontario place in Toronto Friday morning. 

Wynne called the first half of the election a "referendum on Doug Ford" and said in the second half the NDP will face a lot of scrutiny.  

Poll tracker

Andrea Horwath's New Democrats have consistently gained support throughout the campaign and have moved ahead of Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives. Here's the breakdown

Riding to watch

Sudbury, population 80,840, profile by Benjamin Aubé

Surrounded by the NDP on all sides, and with the traditionally Progressive Conservative Nipissing riding to the south, Sudbury has long been the one northeastern Ontario stronghold the Liberals could count on.

They've held the provincial seat every year since 1995 — save for a short period in 2014 — when the NDP's Joe Cimino was voted in.

But Cimino resigned five months later citing health and family matters. Glenn Thibeault then stepped down as Sudbury's federal NDP MP, switching parties and winning the provincial seat back for the Liberals in a byelection. The ensuing candidacy controversy was well-documented.

Throughout the current campaign, first-time candidates — Troy Crowder for the PCs and Jamie West for the NDP — have preferred to focus on Liberal spending and the province's debt. Thibeault has zeroed in on a long list of his party's funding plans for the region, notably in health care and economy diversification. 

Crowder has repeated some of the statements on hydro prices voiced by PC Leader Doug Ford, though he's chosen a different tone on some issues like the Ring of Fire. West has made building a government-to-government relationship with First Nations and slight increases in taxes for high-earners and corporations key parts of his NDP message. 

The veteran Thibeault has defended himself well in debates thus far, but the riding's brief switch away from the Liberals four years ago sets up yet another fascinating race to watch.

Noted

Early Thursday, staffers for Liberal Charles Sousa sent out a press release trumpeting an endorsement from longtime (and now former) Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion. 

"I'm not a party person. I have never been a party person," McCallion said in a Sousa video. "I believe supporting the individual in the riding that ... commits themselves to the people. Charles Sousa represents that." 

About three hours later, McCallion appeared in another video — for PC Leader Doug Ford. In it, she bashes the Liberals and the province's debt — something in Sousa's purview as Wynne's finance minister.

"Doug is committed to fixing Ontario's finances ... and getting our taxes and hydro bills under control," she said. She goes on to encourage people to vote for Ford and the PCs. 

Where the leaders are

Track all the places the leaders have gone so far.

• Ford: Announcement in downtown Toronto (10:30 a.m.)
• Horwath: High school visit in Scarborough (9:30 a.m.)
• Schreiner: Food and water announcement in Guelph (1 p.m.), doorknocking in Guelph with Elizabeth May (2 p.m.)
• Wynne: Announcement at Ontario Place in Toronto (9:15 a.m.), announcement in Port Dover (12:15 p.m.), visit to canoe club in Oakville (4:45 p.m.), speaking at Carassauga Festival in Mississauga (7:30 p.m.), speaking at food bank gala in Brampton (9:30 p.m.)

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