Why is NDP Leader Andrea Horwath using a teleprompter from a living room?
Lighting, soundboard and TelePrompTer set up in Jeff's living room for Horwath's announcement #onpoli #voteon pic.twitter.com/x94XlXcMwD
— Kaleigh Rogers (@KaleighRogers) May 12, 2014
NDP leader Andrea Horwath has read from a teleprompter for every announcement stop on her campaign tour thus far — including one made from the living room of a Thunder Bay resident.
On Monday morning, Ms. Horwath visited the home of Jeff Caldwell, a 54-year-old garbage truck driver who supports the NDP, to announce her party’s plan to remove the provincial portion of the HST on hydro bills.
As with all her campaign stops, Ms. Horwath read the announcement from a teleprompter set up across from Mr. Caldwell’s sofa in the living room, but said the habit is for accuracy sake.
“I need to always make sure that I’m expressing the details of the plan in a way that makes sense. [The teleprompter] is something that just helps me do that,” Ms. Horwath explained.
The first few days of the NDP campaign has taken the leader from Toronto, across southwestern Ontario and up to the northern reaches of the province, where she is making stops in Thunder Bay and Sudbury. Despite the formal speeches, Ms. Horwath has held multiple, lengthy press scrums at each stop.
Horwath challenges opponents to five debates
Early in her campaign, Ms. Horwath challenged her opponents — PC leader Tim Hudak and Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne — to five leader debates. On Monday, she reiterated her challenge saying the debates don’t need to be televised if networks aren’t interested in hosting.
“I’m happy anytime, anywhere to debate the other two leaders,” Ms. Horwath said.
“It’s all about trying to give people access to the leaders and the debates. So, if the networks aren’t interested in five debates or three debates or four debates, that doesn’t mean that the leaders can’t necessarily undertake those debates.”