Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion gave Kathleen Wynne a pat on the back with one hand and held the other out for money Wednesday.

The legendary chief magistrate, who is not running in the fall municipal election, endorsed the Liberal leader for premier but pushed for extra taxation powers like those granted Toronto by Queen’s Park.

“They have to give us the authority to raise other taxes,” McCallion urged, standing beside Wynne in a carefully staged appearance in the June 12 provincial campaign.

Property taxes are not enough to keep up with transit and other infrastructure needs because municipalities do far more than “fill potholes . . . and cut grass,” McCallion said at the Living Arts Centre.

RELATED:

Tim Hudak’s 1 million jobs plan is a tough sell with voters, poll suggests

only ‘more handsome’NDP candidate looks like Rob Ford only ‘more handsome’

More on the Ontario election

Wynne didn’t offer any new taxing powers to match those in the City of Toronto Act when Dalton McGuinty was majority premier, before his Liberals were reduced to a minority in 2011.

Wading deeper into the current campaign, McCallion said minority governments leave municipalities “hanging” and urged voters to elect a majority this time, calling the $1.1-billion scandal over cancelled power plants “water under the bridge.”

More people are concerned about jobs, McCallion added after a meeting with Wynne, who touted her recent budget’s focus on helping improve transit and infrastructure with a $29 billion fund and a promise to cover all municipal court and welfare costs by 2018.

Conservative MPP Vic Fedeli (North Bay) said that budget is too expensive and risks a credit downgrade for the province, noting Moody’s bond-rating agency sees it as a “credit negative.”

“Given the new, larger deficit targets, the path back to balanced budgets presents more risk than previously assessed,” Moody’s wrote May 2.

The Conservatives would cut spending and fire 100,000 public-sector workers to balance the budget by the spring of 2017, a year earlier than Wynne has promised.

“The only way to protect the core services that Ontario needs, deserves and loves is to make sure that we balance the budget,” Fedeli said.

Wynne said there is a bigger risk from Tim Hudak’s Conservative plan to hold back on crucial infrastructure investments and axe the public-sector jobs, which could tip the province back into recession.

“What we will not do is forego the investments that are needed now,” she told reporters.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

On the public service job cuts that would reach down to municipalities, McCallion was wary.

“All governments can become more efficient but you have to do your homework. Just to say 100,000 jobs with no backup material . . . you’d better look at the services as well.”

Read more about: