Article content continued

Watson’s questionnaire to the parties largely asks if they would keep Liberal commitments announced during the course of the party’s rule. There are questions about transit, housing, gas tax transfers, long-term care and infrastructure.

No surprise here: the Liberals said they would keep their funding commitments and bolster those programs. So would the NDP. The PCs didn’t answer many of the questions directly.

Watson asked the parties if they would continue the provincial uploading agreement he signed as minister as municipal affairs in the Dalton McGuinty Liberal government. The phased-in 10-year agreement, which ends this year, transferred social assistance and court security costs from the municipal property tax base to the province.

Watson said Tuesday the upload agreement “is my No. 1 preoccupation.”

The Liberals and NDP said they would maintain the uploading agreement. The PCs didn’t address the question in the letter sent by Ford, who responded to the mayor’s questionnaire on behalf of the party.

Watson said he doesn’t know what a PC government would be like for the city. The amalgamated City of Ottawa has known only one governing party in Ontario for most of its existence since the 2001 municipal amalgamation. The Liberals have been in power since 2003. Watson left the provincial government and was elected Ottawa mayor in 2010. City hall and Queen’s Park have had a cosy relationship since then.

Acknowledging his political bias, Watson said he would “tilt my hand toward what the Liberals have done for the simple reason they’ve been good partners with us,” but he sees proposals in each of the Liberal, PC and NDP platforms that would be good for the city.

“My hope is, regardless of who wins, that they continue a strong partnership so that there’s not this quibbling and squabbling back and forth between city halls across Ontario and Queen’s Park,” Watson said. “And secondly, that the local MPPs continue to act as strong advocates, regardless of what side of the legislature they’re sitting on.”

jwilling@postmedia.com

twitter.com/JonathanWilling