Ontario: A place to take a stand, a place to grow your votes.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and Liberal rival Justin Trudeau are each hoping to discover a bountiful crop of support as they focus today's federal campaign efforts on the densely populated suburbs north of Toronto and the rest of the so-called Golden Horseshoe.
For Trudeau, it's his second straight day courting suburban family voters; he spent Sunday in Brampton, Ont., promising the picket-fence crowd a big-ticket tax cut worth billions and a 25 per cent reduction in their cellphone bills.
Given the task ahead for Trudeau, who is in Hamilton today, it's hardly surprising that he's bringing out the expensive china: the questions about last week's shocking blackface controversy may have abated, but they have not disappeared, and this week a clearer picture of the extent of the damage is sure to emerge.
Scheer, meanwhile, arrives in the suburban community of Vaughan, Ont., after a visit to Prince Edward Island, where he made a commitment of a different kind: a pledge to veterans to personally oversee efforts to reset the Conservative party's relationship with Canada's ex-soldiers.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Leader Elizabeth May take their undercard battle to Atlantic Canada, where Singh is introducing a new ``star candidate'' in Bathurst, N.B., before moving on to Halifax; May makes an announcement in Fredericton.
Scheer not only promised to correct a host of the reasons why veterans in Canada are mad at both the Liberals and the Conservatives _ clear the benefits backlog, overhaul their hated pension plan, improve transition supports _ but he also promised to oversee the efforts himself and enshrine respect for veterans in legislation.
``As prime minister, I will take a personal interest in ensuring the commitments we made today are followed through on,'' Scheer said.
On Sunday, Singh continued to make public concern about climate change and natural disasters a priority.
During a stop in Gatineau, Que., Singh pledged to add $2.5 billion to the federal government's disaster mitigation fund. The idea, he said, is to help people _ like those in west Quebec who recently faced severe flooding _ avoid disasters and be able to stay in their current homes.
``We can't just close our eyes'' to the prospect of more weather-related disasters, he said.