Are the federal Tories thinking about election gains Ontario? They're all over the place there today and, notably, they are in places where the party wants and needs to win:
- Environment Minister John Baird is in Lloyd St. Amand's riding in Brantford, Ont. handing out $12-million to clean up a polluted site. The Tories thought they could win that riding in 2006. Harper stopped there twice during the campaign but St. Amand managed to eke out a win by 582 votes over the Conservative challenger.
- Heritage Minister Josée Verner is at an art gallery in Guelph, Ontario, the riding of Liberal Brenda Chamberlain. She's not running again and, again, Harper made a stop in this city in the last week of the 2006 election as his party had high hopes for local Conservative candidate Brent Barr. Barr is running again.
- Conservative MP Larry Miller will give some money to the Billy Bishop Museum in his riding in Owen Sound, Ont. Tories are hopeful of taking over the riding just south of Miller's. Liberal Paul Steckle will not run again in Huron-Bruce.
- First-time Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro will also give money to an arts group in his riding in Peterborough, Ont. — a riding previously held by the Liberals and one Del Mastro needs to hold.
And, of course, yesterday, Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty decided to use the backdrop of Union Station in downtown Toronto to announce they were giving $690-million to VIA Rail. VIA Rail, of course, is headquartered in Montreal and this announcement likely makes just as much of a difference for Montrealers as it does for Torontonians.