NDP faces tougher scrutiny as Andrea Horwath rises in polls

It's been 28 years since the OntarioNDPhad a real shot at winning an election. That's so long ago that theSkyDomein Torontowas still brand new, JustinBieberhadn't been born, and only a select few carried cellphones, which were the size of bricks.

Theshock NDP victory in 1990 made Bob Rae the province'sfirst and so far only New Democratic premier.The NDPhas finished third in every election since then, never taking more than 21 seats, never winning more than 24 per cent of the popular vote.

• CBCOntario Votes: Find all your election campaign stories here

Fast forward to 2018: Can this time be different for Andrea Horwath's party?

CBC'sPoll Trackersuggests theNDPisnarrowing the PCleadas the campaign nears its midway point. TheNDPis taking its leader's tour toridings where the party hasnot been competitive for years.And the mounting attacks from the Progressive Conservatives and Liberals clearly show they considerHorwatha real threat.

PC Leader Doug Ford proved Tuesday how much he's worried about Horwath when asked how he would ensure everyone has access to a family doctor. He spent eight seconds talking about the question but not answering it, then pivoted abruptly to an attack on the New Democrats that had nothing to do with doctors.

Ford slammed what he called "aradical NDP that wants to raise your taxes, raise your hydro rates, raise gas prices, make it unaffordableto live and work, even if you have a job after the NDPifGod forbidthey ever got in."

It was the second PC news conferenceon Tuesday clearly aimed at trying to undermine support for the New Democrats. In the first, the PC candidate for Nepean, Lisa MacLeod,went after the "radical and extreme views" of some NDP candidates, including one who refuses to wear a poppy around Remembrance Day.

• CBCPoll Tracker: Where the Ontario election race stands

On the campaign trail, Horwath is trying to take it in stride.

"I'm somebody who values very much the people who served our country," Horwathsaid Tuesday during a campaign event at an ironworkers training hall. "I've always been to Remembrance Day ceremonies.People have varying opinions, though, on how to or whether to mark the Remembrance Day ceremonies. That's their individual choice."

In addition to the questions about some NDP candidates, Horwathis being challenged on parts of her platform, including:

• Requiring all employersto provide basic dental benefits to workers and their families.
• Raising the corporate tax rate to 13 per cent (currently 11.5 per cent).
• DeclaringOntario a sanctuary province. (The platform says this would mean"people can access basic services without fear, regardless of their immigration status.")

"We believe that if somebody is brought into an emergency ward bleeding with traumatic injuries, we don't have to ask for their passport before treating them," Horwath said Tuesday when asked about the sanctuary province pledge. "That's what this is all about. Those are my values;those are the values of most Canadians, most Ontarians. It's about humanity."

Horwathdefendedher proposed corporate tax hike, as well as income tax hikes that would only hit those earning $220,000 or more a year

"We're going to ask the richestOntariansand the richest corporations to pay a little bit more," she said. "Seems to me that Mr. Ford's plan that he talks about being a plan for the people, is actually a plan for the rich."

The NDPwould form "a government that puts the interests of people at the centre of every decision that we make," Horwath said.

• Jagmeet Singh joins Horwath at Brampton rally

She denied that an NDPgovernment would make a difficult climate for business.

"The focus of our platform is to ask the business community to help us help the family budget," she said. She said small businesses would be able to buy into a cheaper employee dental plan than currently available, while cutting down on absenteeism and helping to retain their workers.

She said the corporate tax increase would not be fully phased in until her third year in government and would leave the rate one point lower than it was before the Liberal government began cuttingcorporate taxes in 2010.

Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne's criticism of Horwath is less strident than Ford's, but still pointed.

"There are big differences between our plan and theNDPplan," Wynnesaid Tuesday, calling the NDP'splatform "filled with question marks and corrections."

The NDP platform containsa $1.4-billion error, Horwath admitted last weekend, after the Ottawa Citizen's David Reevely discovered the party counted $700 million it would set aside in reserve as revenue instead of an expense.

• PCs, Liberals aim attacks at NDP as party climbs in the polls

The Liberals have also tried to argue that the NDPplatform eliminatesbillions in new spending announced since the 2017 budget.

"There is a consensus building that Doug Ford is not going to be good for the people of Ontario," Wynne said. "So that means that the scrutiny on the other two parties is very, very intense."

She said people who are choosing between the Liberals and theNDPneed to know what each party'splans would mean.