Does Ford's visit to Sault Ste. Marie mean it's an election battleground? The NDP thinks so
CBC
Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford's campaign stop in Sault Ste. Marie Saturday shows he is concerned there's a tight race in the riding leading up to the June 2 provincial vote, the city's NDP candidate says.
"It's nice to see that he's coming to the Sault because he ignored us in the last election," said Michele McCleave-Kennedy.
"We haven't seen much of him. So that tells me that they're concerned that it was a close election and it's going to be a close one again this time."
McCleave-Kennedy said she is better prepared this time with more volunteers, and more time to prepare for the election than in 2018.
She said people in the northeastern Ontario city are concerned about health care, education, and how the Conservatives have "basically ignored the north for the last four years."
McCleave-Kennedy also said when Sudbury's Laurentian University announced it was insolvent in February 2021, it showed the province wasn't thinking about issues facing northern Ontario.
Her Progressive Conservative opponent in this election and last, Ross Romano, was Ontario's minister of colleges and universities then.
"We actually in Sault Ste. Marie lobbied on behalf of Laurentian University and lobbied Ross Romano at his office," McCleave-Kennedy said.
Romano was not available for an interview by the deadline for this story.
In 2018, McCleave-Kennedy lost to Romano by just 414 votes. It was one of the closest races in the province. But at least one early opinion poll suggests a very different picture in 2022.
Steve Pinkus, the vice-president of polling firm Mainstreet Research, said his numbers suggest the Conservatives have 47.2 per cent of the vote in Sault Ste. Marie right now, while the NDP is polling at 23.6 per cent. The margin of error for the poll is plus or minus three per cent with "a 95 per cent confidence level," Mainstreet says.
"Look, it's early," Pinkus said. "The sample sizes vary and this could change a lot during the course of the campaign."
Pinkus added that an early campaign visit from a party leader is normally meant to consolidate support where that party might already be strong.
Keagan Gilfillan, the Green Party candidate in Sault Ste. Marie, said he believes the Progressive Conservatives are focusing on northern Ontario early in the campaign to strengthen support in more rural areas.
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