TORONTO - Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has officially called five byelections on Aug. 1, triggering opposition complaints the votes will be held just before a long summer weekend.
Wynne called the byelections in Windsor, London, Ottawa and two Toronto-area ridings to replace five Liberals who have resigned since she became premier in February.
Progressive Conservative Lisa MacLeod says Wynne picked Aug. 1 in the hope most voters won't be paying attention to politics, and calls the premier's actions "akin to stuffing the ballot boxes."
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says Wynne picked the peak of summer for the five byelections to give the Liberals an advantage with a low voter turnout, which she calls a cynical but typical move by the governing party.
The NDP are widely expected to take the Windsor-Tecumseh seat from the Liberals, but the Progressive Conservatives are downplaying their chances in the five votes.
The opposition parties want voters to use the byelections to punish the government for the $585 million spent to cancel gas plants in Oakville and Mississauga, which they say was done to save Liberal seats in the 2011 election.
