Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, left, campaigns with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne during a stop in Toronto on Monday, August 17, 2015.Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
Such a busy week for Kathleen Wynne and hardly any of it has anything to do with her job as Ontario Premier. She's spending these last few days before the Oct. 19 vote campaigning for her friend, federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, gambling that he'll win the election and form government.
On Thursday afternoon, Ms. Wynne is visiting the campaign headquarters of Mark Holland, the Liberal candidate in Ajax. Mr. Holland is in a high-profile battle with Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, who defeated Mr. Holland in the 2011 general election.
The Liberals look now like they have a good chance of winning, given the momentum in the national polls and the fact that Mr. Alexander has been seen to have severely mishandled the Syrian refugee crisis.
After her visit with Mr. Holland, Ms. Wynne is moving on to Don Valley West and Liberal candidate Rob Oliphant's campaign office. The premier represents the riding provincially, and it seems, too, that Mr. Oliphant, who was defeated in the last election by Conservative John Carmichael, is poised to win it back.
(It shows, too, that money may not be a deciding factor in this race, given that Mr. Carmichael is a most successful fundraiser, attracting $384,401 in 2014 compared to $285,105 for the Liberals. These are big numbers for a non-election year.) On Tuesday, she was in four federal ridings, three in Toronto and one in Oakville. In August, not long after the election was called, Ms. Wynne appeared on stage with Mr. Trudeau at a rally in Toronto, where she also attacked NDP leader Tom Mulcair, calling his plan to abolish the Senate, bring and provide $15-a-day childcare "unworkable."
All of this follows her declaration last June at her party's annual general meeting, that she was "all in" for Mr. Trudeau. She has not wavered from that promise despite the fact that Mr. Trudeau was the leader of the third party and the idea of the Liberals forming a government any time soon was a long shot.
She is alone among the premiers in her strident support for Mr. Trudeau. Alberta's NDP Premier Rachel Notley is attending a rally in Edmonton on Friday with federal leader Tom Mulcair, but she promised early on in the campaign that she would not be negative toward any other parties.
This is in contrast with her Ontario counterpart.
But with polls now consistently showing Mr. Trudeau in the lead, Ms. Wynne's strategy might just pay off.
Some observers had criticized it as risky. Another Harper government would mean four more years of bad blood between the two leaders at a time when Ontario's economy needs a lot of help.
There are other observers, those closer to her, who say that it was not so risky. The relationship was strained anyway. She had nothing to lose, but everything to gain if Mr. Trudeau was able to somehow win.
She has called for a better relationship between the federal government and provinces. Traditionally, there is little separation between the federal and Ontario Liberals. Ms. Wynne also personally likes Mr. Trudeau and a number of former federal Liberals work for her. Many of her staff are working on the Trudeau campaign now.
Her campaigning has irked both the NDP and Conservative campaigns.
"The consequences of Justin's intent on pursuing the same disastrous economic policies as Kathleen Wynne's Liberals will result in payroll tax hikes, out of control spending, job losses and skyrocketing energy costs. As Prime Minister Harper said of the Liberal plan to raise taxes, 'you make it, they take it and spend it, " says Stephen Lecce, Conservative leader Stephen Harper's spokesman.
But she and Mr. Trudeau share similar issues – for example, stimulating the economy through infrastructure spending and enhancing retirement savings.
"The reality was that the political relationship between Mr. Harper and Ontario couldn't get any worse, and needed better," said a senior Wynne aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Mr. Trudeau represents that in both substance and the certainty of a different and more positive relationship between the two leaders and the two governments, which will pay dividends to the province."