The first week of the Ontario provincial election campaign appears to have been a draw, with some polls showing very little movement.
The governing Liberals led by Dalton McGuinty remain in the 40 per cent range. John Tory's Progressive Conservative Party is in second place with about 37 per cent support, and Howard Hampton's NDP sit in third at about 16 per cent support.
The two trailing parties have largely ignored each other and focused on the record of McGuinty's government, which took power in 2003.
The Tories' first TV ad salvo at McGuinty features the theme "promises made, promises broken," such as the broken 2003 election promise to phase out coal-fired electricity by 2007.
In the NDP ad, the grinning, disembodied head of McGuinty is progressively covered with yellow Post-It notes outlining job losses, tax hikes and lost services.
"Don't get mad. Get orange," urges the ad.
The message the Liberals hope to push in these early days is "change that's working."
One ad has a foreign-trained doctor praising the Liberal government for making it easier for professionals like him to practice in Ontario. The Conservatives say the Liberal health premium -- introduced after McGuinty promised no tax increase in the 2003 campaign -- has done nothing to ease the doctor shortage.
Both Tory and Hampton have said they will repeal the Liberals' health premium. McGuinty said he will not because the revenue is needed to deliver services.
On the hustings, McGuinty took aim at Tory's controversial promise to extend public funding of faith-based schools.
In Sudbury on Friday, he warned that Tory's plan would mean less funding for northern public school boards.
"Ontarians now have to make a choice as to which approach they think is the right one," he said. "I firmly believe that the right approach ... is to continue to support public education."
Tory has insisted his plan won't take any existing funding away from public schools.
Northern Ontario has seen serious job losses in its forestry sector in recent years and suffered other economic hardship.
People in the Rotary Club audience pressed McGuinty on this. He said his government would boost the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund from $60 million to $100 million.
In southern Ontario, air quality is a major issue.
Tory promised to install scrubbers on the stacks of Ontario's coal plants -- at a cost of $1.3 billion. He hasn't committed to a firm phase-out date, but would like to accomplish the shut-down by 2014.
The Liberals refused to install scrubbers in advance of their plan to end coal-fired power in Ontario by 2014.
"Dalton McGuinty has stood by over the last four years while people got sick and some, in fact, by his own admission lost their lives," Tory said during a campaign stop in Nanticoke.
That town on the shores of Lake Erie is home of Ontario's largest coal-fired plant, which is Canada's fifth-largest air polluter.
"I will not do that. I will put those scrubbers on because they can be put on at a reasonable cost," Tory said. "What cost human life? This is the right thing to do."
Some environmentalists thought scrubbers at this point were a bad idea if the plants are to be phased out in seven years, noting they could increase greenhouse gas emissions because they reduce the efficiency of the plants.
Hampton spoke about implementing a $10 per hour minimum wage immediately and rolling back the big raise that Ontario's MPPs gave themselves earlier this year.
The NDP believe their stance on a boost in the minimum wage helped them take the York-South Weston riding in Toronto away from the Liberals in a February byelection. That riding is one of the poorest in Ontario.
In Ottawa on Thursday, Hampton said 1.2 million Ontario workers only get the minimum wage.
"These workers are disproportionately women and new Canadians," he said. "Many are raising children while trying to make ends meet and living below the poverty line even though they're working full-time hours or longer.''
Ontario's voters will get a chance to see the three leaders go head-to-head in a 90-minute televised debate on Thursday.
Voting day is on Oct. 10.
