With just over a week until the provincial election, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath mingled with local residents at a campaign stop in Chatham.
The event, which was held at Mamma Maria's Ristorante at 6pm on Tuesday, was packed full of residents eager to chat with the leader and hear the progress of her campaign.
Horwarth says in these next few days the party will continue reaching out to Ontarians and show them that they can choose change for the better and make life better for everyday families.
"It's an extremely important next couple of days here in the southwest and across the province," she says. "Some people have already gone to the polls and started voting. I've been hearing some real positive encouragement from folks."
Horwath says being on the campaign trail has been "invigorating."
"There's a lot of excitement everywhere we go," she says. "Our candidates are saying that people are coming into their campaign offices wanting to volunteer and the donations are coming in. There's this real sense of excitement and energy that something different is going on out there."
Horwath announced on Tuesday that an NDP government will change the law to give full-time workers three weeks of paid vacation. She says Canada is third last in OECD countries in terms of the amount of vacation time.
"It's about making sure that people have a chance to spend with family and to have a work/life balance," says Horwath. "Employees that take their vacation time and have a good amount of vacation time are happier, they're more productive, and they're healthier."
Horwath says she will give small businesses a chance to get ready to adjust to the change, so her party won't be implementing the adjustment until the second year of being elected.
The party leader was recently under fire after admitting to a $1.4-billion error in her campaign's fiscal plan. She says she acknowledged the mistake right away when it was identified and was honest about it.
"When we identified that the mistake that was reported was, in fact, the case, we were straight up about it. We fixed our problem and I think that's what people deserve," she says.
Les Danielski from Ridgetown says he came out to support the leader because of how tough the election has been.
"I came here because Chatham-Kent-Leamington is such a blue area. Chatham-Kent is hurting and people don't want to admit it," he says."We need a party that actually thinks about people.
Another local resident, Debra Slaughter, says she is a big supporter of Horwath.
"Everything she stands for is nothing but the truth. She's got massive confidence behind her," she says.
Horwath says there will be a press conference on Wednesday at around 12pm in Leamington where she will be making some kind of announcement about concrete barriers.
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