Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne, centre, Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford, left, and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath stand together before the start of their debate in Toronto on Monday, May 7, 2018. This is the first of three debates scheduled before the June 7 vote. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Doug Ford largely withstood a verbal onslaught from two sides in his first provincial leaders’ debate with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

The Monday night debate saw the rookie Progressive Conservative leader face-to-face with Wynne for the first time since he was elected in March. But Ford started the evening by leaving much of the debate to Wynne and Horwath.

Only after moderator Cynthia Mulligan, of CityNews, interrupted a back and forth between Wynne and Horwath to compel Ford to “speak” did he join the fray.

With a month to go before election day, Ford is polling in majority territory. His position put him squarely in the crosshairs of both Horwath and Wynne who each pressed him on what he will cut when he tries to balance the budget.

Ford has pledged to find four per cent in “efficiencies” without cutting any public sector jobs, but he’s given no details about how he will do that while, at the same time, promising billions in new spending.

Horwath landed the most direct hit when she asked him, “why don’t you have the guts to tell people what your cuts are going to look like?”

Ford said the savings could be found by cutting waste. He maintained that while he was a Toronto councillor the city found $1 billion in savings — a talking point that has been repeatedly debunked.

Still Ford maintained, “not one single person is getting laid off under our administration, not one person.”

In their confrontations, Horwath and Wynne spent a lot of time talking over each other. Both are campaigning in the same left-of-centre territory as they clamour to grab the anti-Ford vote.

Unlike a debate last month when Wynne was on the defensive, she quickly pivoted from critiques of her government’s record to talking about her plans for the province and demanding more details from Ford on his policies.

‘You got a nice smile’

When it came to Ford’s turn to ask a question he appeared to stumble when he turned his attention to Wynne and said, “Kathleen,” he said, “you got a nice smile on your face there.”

To which Wynne replied “so do you.”

Her response drew laughs but after the debate Wynne said called Ford’s remark “disappointing.”

“There are many of us who have come to maybe expect that kind of comment, that kind of behaviour,” she said.

‘When did you lose your way?’

Ford used his moment to press Wynne on her personal record as premier.

“I truly believe you got into politics for the right reason,” he said to Wynne. “My question is very simply, when did you lose your way?”

The question matched the message Ford has pushed against Wynne. He argued that she’s lost touch when it comes to the needs of Ontarians and he then contrasted hydro rates that skyrocketed under her government to the lucrative pay of Hydro One’s executives.

Instead of counter-punching Wynne pivoted to lay out her vision of government and remind voters of Ontario’s relatively strong economy.

“This province is doing very, very well,” she said. “What I believe is that government exists to do the things that people can’t do themselves. Government exists to invest in the supports that people need.”

She pointed to her government’s investments in home care, child care and long term care as examples.

‘While these two argue, our hydro bills are going through the roof.’

The NDP strategy is to let Ford and Wynne duke it out while their leader focuses on policy, and Horwath turned to that line often on Monday.

“While these two argue,” she said at one point, “our hydro bills are going through the roof.”

That one landed but the frequently repeated line didn’t always ring true as Horwath also sparred with Wynne and Ford. At times you couldn’t make out what any of the leaders were saying as they talked over each other and competed for air time.

All three leaders stuck to the script in their closing arguments.

Wynne pushed attacks on both her opponents, telling viewers that, to the right, the option was “cuts” and, to the left, they were being served a dose of “magical thinking.”

The election, Wynne said is “about making sure that the care that people need is actually in place, or it’s about cuts.”

Horwath again planted the idea that she is the only adult in the room. “While Mr. Ford and Ms Wynne fought about who is going to make the worst premier of Ontario, I think this election is our opportunity to do something completely different.”

“We can actually have change for the better,” she said.

With the last word of the night Ford accused the Liberals of only wanting to stay in government to “continue lining the pockets of their friends and their Liberal insiders.”

“You know me I’m for the little guy,” he said.

Cristine de Clercy, associate political science professor at Western University, told the Canadian Press that Ford performed well given that this was his first debate against two more experienced leaders.

He didn’t make any major mistakes, she said.

“Mr. Ford spent most of his time on the defensive,” she said. “He didn’t layout his plan … and if you were looking for those answers it wasn’t a very satisfying debate.”

De Clercy said Ford’s pledge not to layoff any public sector workers while cutting four per cent of the provincial budget could come back to haunt him, as both Wynne and Horwath effectively communicated, she said.

“I think he’s really put himself in a box there,” she said.

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