NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is meeting Premier Kathleen Wynne on Wednesday amid signs a budget deal can be reached to avert a sudden election.

After weeks of politely declining Wynne’s overtures to chat, Horwath said Tuesday she’s ready to meet with her Liberal counterpart to thrash out ways to improve Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s budget.

“We will be having that discussion,” the New Democrat said after announcing the last of her conditions for supporting the budget.

Horwath wants the Liberals to rethink a proposal to slap new tolls on car-pooling lanes to help bankroll public transit.

“We don’t want to see new taxes, new tolls. We don’t want to see more (of a) burden on everyday families when other sectors of the province are able to get big breaks and more tax loopholes.”

But she conceded her latest demands, which also include requests for a new independent parliamentary budget officer and expanding the power of the Ombudsman of Ontario into the health-care system, are not deal-breakers.

“I’m not going to draw a line in the sand on this,” Horwath told reporters at Queen’s Park.

“Ontarians will not forgive New Democrats if we support a budget without trying to get that kind of transparency, that kind of accountability from the government,” she said, admitting the budget contained many NDP policies, such as a 15 per cent cut in auto insurance rates, a youth jobs strategy, and more money for home-care health services.

Because Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and his caucus will vote against Sousa’s fiscal blueprint, Wynne needs Horwath’s backing to keep her fledgling minority government alive.

In Kingston, the premier said she was looking forward to working “together with the NDP” to avoid an election that would cost $92 million and come 20 months after the last provincial vote.

“We have to implement the budget now. I need a face-to-face meeting with her in order to go forward,” said Wynne.

The Liberals are cautiously optimistic an agreement can be achieved because they believe Horwath has been reasonable and realistic in her approach to the budget.

Sousa noted “requests by the NDP are addressed and more” in his plan because “we also share in common those” policies.

Still, the Liberals aren’t leaving anything to chance, stepping up election preparations by unveiling a bold new party logo to replace the 2002 design that was former premier Dalton McGuinty’s hallmark.

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The revamped L symbolizes a break from the previous administration.

When Paul Martin took over from prime minister Jean Chrétien in 2003, he similarly ordered a redesign of party emblems.

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