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Tim Hudak: “No, we can’t afford it. We’ll continue with the funding that’s been discussed and been budgeted for the first phase. But if you’re asking me … if I discovered a new bucket of money in the drive here to Ottawa, the answer is no. I know that the Liberals and probably the NDP will make promises they know they can’t keep. They’ll do so to try to win votes. And they’ll probably look at you in the eye and they’ll be convincing. They’re good actors. But they’ll give you the same acting routine if they get elected and they’ll say the cupboards are bare.”

Hudak did not say he wasn’t prepared to discuss it until after the deficit is eliminated, which is supposed to happen by 2016. The question clearly lays out the time frame for the funding. If Hudak wanted to give a more detailed, equivocating answer, he certainly could have — he was the one standing behind the microphone.

What he said was, “No, we can’t afford it.”

It would also be easier to accept the PC spin if Hudak had explained himself not just at Thursday’s local campaign event but in a letter to Mayor Jim Watson. The mayor sent out a questionnaire to all four party leaders asking where they stand on certain local issues, including the second phase of LRT expansion planned for Ottawa.

Did Hudak take that opportunity to explain his vision for funding transit in Ottawa in the future? Did he talk about how he would enter into discussions with Ottawa leaders about expanding light rail in the city after the happy day when the budget was balanced? No, he did not.