PICKERING—Rattled by polls showing the New Democrats surging, Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford is attacking the NDP as too “radical” to govern Ontario.

Ford, who had led every public opinion survey since becoming PC leader on March 10, awoke Tuesday to a new Ipsos Public Affair poll showing Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats at 37 per cent to 36 per cent for his Tories and 23 per cent for Kathleen Wynne’s governing Liberals.

The online panel survey of 1,000 Ontarians was conducted for Global News between Friday and Monday and is considered accurate to within 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The Conservatives maintained that Ipsos’ findings are not consistent with the party’s internal research showing them ahead. Other publicly available polling has suggested the New Democrats are on the rise.

Ford wasted no time underscoring how serious a threat he views Horwath.

“Andrea Horwath is promising to fire not hundreds of people, but thousands of people,” he said at a legion hall near the Pickering nuclear generating station that the NDP and the Green party have said should close this summer.

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“More than 7,500 jobs in Ontario depend on this plant,” said Ford, pouncing on the New Democrats’ assurance to the Ontario Clean Air Alliance that they would move forward with the Pickering station’s closure when its licence expires Aug. 31.

Both the Liberals and the Tories say they would extend its life until 2024.

The PC leader said Horwath’s move is “so the NDP can satisfy yet another radical special-interest group.”

“God forbid they ever got in,” he said of a June 7 election that suddenly seems too close to call.

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“Ontario workers and their families will be stuck paying for the radical NDP agenda and we all end up paying for the NDP and their radical plans (because) closing the Pickering power plant will cost Ontario families another $600 million on your hydro bills.”

Ford said an NDP government would make up for mothballing Pickering by exporting “expensive electricity from Quebec,” which has a surplus of hydro power.

Horwath said an NDP government would “begin the decommissioning process immediately,” creating thousands of jobs as the Pickering plant is closed down, which is a labour-intensive endeavour.

“Look, in 2010, the Liberals said very publicly and very clearly that the Pickering plant is going to close so this is not news that it's going to close,” she said in Toronto.

“You can't have these plants go on forever and ever and ever,” said the NDP leader, emphasizing she would look to independent experts for advice on next steps.

The Ontario Clean Air Alliance praised the New Democrats, noting the ageing station has already operated for two decades more than its 30-year planned lifespan.

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For her part, Wynne said the NDP continues to just keep “throwing out ideas.”

“Shutting down the Pickering nuclear plant … (is) not part of a plan that makes any sense,” the Liberal leader said at a campaign stop in downtown Toronto Tuesday.

“The fact is, that would put 4,500 jobs at risk. It would mean that we would lose generation capacity in this province … we’ve worked really hard to have a reliable, clean electricity system,” she said.

“If the NDP had their way, you could turn on a switch and you couldn’t guarantee whether the lights are going to come on or not.”

The Pickering plant will remain active until 2024, Wynne added, and that’s “part of a plan to allow the other nuclear plants to be refurbished — part of our broader, long-term energy plan and it all fits together.”

With files from Kristin Rushowy

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