Only two leaders to campaign Saturday for Ontario June 12 election

TORONTO – Ontario’s party leaders plan a lighter day of campaigning today as they seek votes in the June 12 provincial election.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak plans to campaign east of Toronto in Courtice and Whitby, while NDP Leader Andrea Horwath visits a soccer centre in Brampton, Ont.

Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne has no campaign events scheduled for today.

Political observers say Hudak took a “big gamble” on Friday when he announced he would eliminate 100,000 public sector jobs if he wins the June 12th election.

Hudak’s tough love proposal is part of the Tories’ larger goal of creating one million jobs in Ontario over eight years.

University of Ottawa political science professor Luc Turgeon says he thinks it might turn out to be more controversial than Hudak thinks it is.

Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne responded by saying Hudak’s jobs plan is to turn paycheques into pink slips for 100,000 people.

And New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath also slammed the Tory proposal, saying it would add further strain to the province’s hard-hit workforce.

Wynne, meanwhile, said Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s refusal to address the retirement income crisis may haunt him when he goes out on the campaign trail next year.

Wynne told The Canadian Press there is a lot of support for enhancing the Canada Pension Plan or her proposal to create a supplementary made-in-Ontario scheme to ensure that people are saving for retirement.

“I certainly think it will be a question he will be asked in the next election,” she said.