TORONTO - The unofficial campaign for the Oct. 6, 2011 Ontario election began with the fall sitting of the legislature, as the Liberal government tries for a third consecutive term in office.
Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals have been on the attack since Labour Day, painting new Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak as a Mike Harris clone.
McGuinty wants voters to remember what it was like seven years ago when the Liberals defeated the last Conservative government.
He says schools were in turmoil, hospitals were closed and meat and water inspectors were fired.
The premier says his Liberals quickly went to work rehiring the inspectors, restoring labour peace to schools and building 18 new hospitals.
Political scientist David Docherty of Sir Wilfrid Laurier University says the Liberals have nowhere to go but down in the number of seats they'll win next fall, unless the N-D-P vote collapses.
However, Docherty says that doesn't mean the Liberals will be defeated, only that they'll have a hard time wining a third majority.
The Tories and New Democrats are convinced Ontario voters are still angry about the 13 per cent harmonized sales tax and rising electricity bills.
The Progressive Conservatives won't promise to repeal the HST, but are talking about some kind of unspecified tax relief for voters.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says she's confident voters will know it was her party that pushed the Liberals into providing 10 per cent rebates on electricity bills for the next five years.
The Green Party of Ontario, which does not have any elected members in the legislature, hopes to field a full slate of candidates next October.
