Wynne accuses Harper of obstructing Ontario’s efforts to launch a new pension plan

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, has said that she would campaign hard for Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. She  was critical of Stephen Harper’s decision to call an 11-week campaign on Sunday.

Harper suggested it was Wynne’s poor performance as premier that was to blame for their frosty relationship, after he was asked whether it was politically risky to be picking a fight with the leader of Canada’s largest province. Vote-rich Ontario helped propel the Conservatives to majority victory in 2011.  “I think I will observe what a senior official told me when I took office. They said, ‘You will have your best relations with the premiers who are doing a good job in their own jurisdiction,'” Harper said. Harper, who has been criticized by some of Canada’s premiers for not meeting with them as a group, defended himself by saying he had had “literally hundreds of meetings and telephone calls” with premiers since his party was elected to office in 2006. Wynne hit back in a statement issued by her office . “Ontario needs a new federal government to work with. Stephen Harper and his ministers preferred to play political games rather than work with provinces in the best interest of the people of this country. This is particularly the case in Ontario.‎ You only have to look to the example of what has transpired with the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan.”

Wynne blamed Harper for adding to the “high anxiety” felt by voters in Ontario over retirement security. “It is an affront to the people of Ontario and their futures when he actively obstructs what everyone knows is needed,” Wynne said, adding that what Ontario needs is “a real partner in Ottawa.”