HAMILTON—Her put-downs of the NDP’s ties to organized labour have cost Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, struggling at third place in the election polls, front-line support from the union representing public high school teachers.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation sent a memo to its Toronto members Wednesday saying the union’s Toronto executive is withdrawing its formal endorsement and door-to-door canvassing efforts for Wynne and six other local Liberal candidates.

“This new tack taken by the Ontario Liberals is an obvious act of desperation, and we can only hope that it doesn’t serve to drive voters back to the Tories from the NDP,” wrote Leslie Wolfe, president of the federation’s Toronto local.

The teachers’ union said the last straw came Wednesday morning when Liberal campaign co-chair Deb Matthews accused the NDP of trying to hide a for-profit business partnership called Cornerstone with eight of Ontario’s “largest and most powerful unions…to financially backstop the NDP’s campaigns and operations.” Cornerstone owns the building in which the party’s offices are located.

New Democrat spokesperson Andrew Schwab said the party pays rent at market rate for its offices at Cornerstone and there is no financial relationship “of any kind.”

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“Today’s press conference cannot be interpreted as anything other than as part of a systematic attack on the Ontario Labour Movement by the Ontario Liberal Party,” the OSSTF memo said.

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An hour after that press conference, Wynne put on her premier’s hat in NDP Leader Andrea Horwath’s steeltown stronghold, touting her own efforts in meeting with U.S. lawmakers to save Ontario jobs amid protectionist sentiment south of the border.

Wynne suggested Horwath’s ties to labour — manifested by the NDP rejection of back-to-work legislation to end prolonged strikes — means she doesn’t have the skill set to lead the province.

“We have to have the ability and the flexibility of thought to be able to bring everyone together and figure out what’s in the best interest of the industry, the workers, the families who are dependent on these jobs,” Wynne said at Stelco.

Wynne also mentioned her meetings with 37 U.S. governors, along with senators, members of congress and Trump administration officials to fight trade barriers and protect jobs in both countries since Donald Trump was elected president.

Campaigning in Leamington, Horwath fired back at Wynne for falling short in helping the struggling steel industry.

“Where was she a couple of weeks ago when Hamilton Specialty Bar closed down and a couple of hundred steelworkers were left without a job and many others who are pensioners were left without medical benefits for their future?”

“She can have all the conversations that she wants, but it’s the action that we need,” Horwath added.

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Premier since 2013, Wynne took credit for her government’s role in helping to restructure Stelco, a major local employer and “the beating heart of Hamilton,” to preserve more than 2,000 jobs while protecting pensions and benefits for retired workers in the United Steelworkers union.

“We’re dealing with conditions that we haven’t encountered before. We’re dealing with technology, climate change, a protectionism from the United States that we could not have anticipated even five years ago.”

Since Sunday’s leadership debate, Wynne has been hammering at the NDP in a bid to bring back Liberal supporters who have drifted to the New Democrats as the alternative to stop Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford.

“We know we’re in a very tough fight,” said the Liberal leader, who is spending her time on the hustings trying to convince voters that they won’t like what they see if they take a closer look at the NDP.

With files from Robert Benzie and Kristin Rushowy

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