Hamilton MPP Andrea Horwath, Gilles Bisson of Timmins-North Bay, Michael Prue of Beaches-East York and Peter Tabuns of Toronto-Danforth visited Dundas town hall last Friday for a quick debate and chance to meet members of the Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough- Westdale NDP riding association.

But with a few debates already under the candidates’ belts leading up to the March 6 leadership convention in Hamilton, McMaster University political scientist Peter Graefe hasn’t heard much buzz coming from the Orange and Green.

“I don’t get the sense there’s a lot of excitement,” Mr. Graefe said. “They are four candidates that aren’t particularly gripping personalities.”

Though he didn’t attend last Friday’s debate, he said a reporter’s description of the proceedings sounded more interesting than he expected, based on what he’s seen.

“I don’t see them bringing in new members, or going into under-represented areas,” Mr. Graefe said. “It’s been a bit of a snooze so far.”

He compared what he sees as a lack of rejuvenation within the quiet provincial NDP to the revived atmosphere of the party’s federal wing during the successful leadership campaign of Jack Layton.

“He went out and signed up new members, got people excited,” Mr. Graefe said.

The four candidates agreed on plenty, during Friday night’s debate, and followed a respectful, low-key script most of the night.

But, when they were each asked what made them different from the others, the first signs of battle lines were drawn.

Ms. Horwath spent much of the debate establishing herself as the new, fresh voice within the Ontario NDP. She said the perspective she gained working in the grassroots, as a community organizer, qualifies her for the leadership –that the party needs reorganization at the grassroots.

Then Michael Prue argued he is different than his opponents because he is a proven leader who, as mayor of East York, successfully brought a municipality through tough economic times.

“You’re not here to elect an organizer,” Mr. Prue said, aiming directly at Ms. Horwarth. “You are here to elect a leader.”

But both Mr. Tabuns and Mr. Bisson took on the comments.

“I think all four of us are leaders,” Mr. Tabuns said. “I’ve seen all four of us in leadership roles.”

And Mr. Bisson seemed to step directly to Ms. Horwath’s defense.

“I disagree with Michael,” he said. “Being a leader means being an organizer. You need to know how to build from the grassroots.”

All four leadership candidates acknowledged the Ontario NDP is at a tough period in its life.

“We’re not broadly electable,” Mr. Tabuns said. “We need a leader who makes people want to give (financially) to us. We have to build trust. If you don’t, you won’t have enough seats to have an impact.”

He suggested the party has to deal with the economy in a broad and grand way, creating a new “energy economy” program on the scale of Tommy Douglas’ Medicare.

Mr. Bisson said the party must take the economy more seriously in order to gain respect from voters.

“People don’t vote for us in large numbers because they don’t trust us on the economy,” he said. “Voters need us to have practical solutions.”

Mr. Prue suggested abolishing the Ontario Municipal Board and Local Health Integration Networks, which he called “unaccountable”.

“We can take the money we are saving from these things and invest them in the things we care about, like education and health care,” Mr. Prue said.

He said the province’s next election will be solely about the economy –not favoured NDP topics like the environment or health care.

“I remember when the party was exciting,” he said.

“We were on the cutting edge.” Ms. Horwath said good jobs create opportunity, and the NDP is the only party that can achieve them.

She suggested Hamilton and other Ontario municipalities are “clamoring” for Light Rail Transit, and the infrastructure exists to build the rail lines and trains within the province for its own cities.

“We have a manufacturing sector ready to produce it. We have the skilled workers. We have the people willing to get out of their cars and use public transit,” Ms. Horwath said.

Ms. Horwath also touched on the issues Mr. Graefe later suggested none of the candidates seem to be doing in any obvious, or exciting, way.

“We need to bring women into the party, we need to bring youth into the party,” Ms. Horwath said. “We need to develop relationships between people in the riding and the party.”