Mike Schreiner is too nice a guy, and perhaps too polished a politician, to take the bait.
Or probably both.
On Saturday Premier Kathleen Wynne conceded she would not be the Premier of Ontario after Thursday’s provincial election and urged people to vote Liberal with a focus on ensuring the NDP or PC parties don’t win a majority government.
Sunday night just prior to a Green Party town hall meeting, Schreiner was asked if that was a sign of desperation on the Liberals’ part.
“I will let people interpret that how they want to interpret it,” said Schreiner, who has made a point of focusing on his party rather than attacking others during the campaign.
“It was interesting. I thought it was a bold move on her part. Given what she said, I think she’s given all Liberals in Guelph permission to vote Green, or maybe she’s even encouraging them to vote Green,” said the 48-year-old Kansas native.
Provincially it’s a dogfight between the NDP and PC parties to see who gains power in the election.
Locally it’s even more wide open.
Some polls have shown Schreiner to be the front runner, NDP Aggie Mlynzarz is riding the current orange surge and has shown very well on the local campaign trail, PC Ray Ferraro could benefit from party leader Doug Ford’s popularity and Sly Castaldi has the fact that Guelph has had a Liberal MPP for 15 years.
“I’m not sure voters trust any of the three status quo parties with a majority government. Having a minority, if that’s what the voters decide on June 7, probably reflects the mood of the province right now,” Schreiner said.
“Certainly one or two Green MPPs in a minority government would play a really important role in putting together a coalition government.”
Does Schreiner see the NDP as his main competition in Guelph?
“It does appear that we’re the two front-running parties, but the only poll that matters is the one on June 7,” he said.
“But for me it’s not a matter of who I am running against, it’s what I’m running for …. We’re feeling confident, but we also know it’s a very close race.”
Schreiner’s town hall meeting Sunday night that attracted 75 people to the Holiday Inn. He spent two hours answering questions from an audience of mostly Green Party supporters, but not all.
“It’s not designed for partisans, all our people are out knocking on doors right now,” Schreiner said just prior to event.
“I said ‘lets focus on undecideds,’” Schreiner said prior to the event.
It is those that are still undecided, and Schreiner says there are many, that he is targeting over the last four days of the campaign.
“The only wasted vote is a vote you don’t believe in and I’m really tired of pundits and other parties telling you to vote for something you don’t believe in or something you want to stop,” he said during the town hall.
“If we don’t vote for what we believe in, we’re never going to have a government that we believe in.”
