TORONTO – The New Democrats are hoping public pressure can persuade Premier Dalton McGuinty to recall the Ontario legislature.
   
The NDP are launching a campaign to get the public to apply pressure on McGuinty by emailing and phoning the premier and other Liberals to tell them prorogation is an abdication of their responsibility.
   
NDP finance critic Michael Prue says the legislature should not sit dark until the Liberals pick a new leader to replace McGuinty, which is expected sometime next year.
  
He says the opposition parties need public pressure so McGuinty relents and brings the legislature back much sooner than that.
   
The NDP and Progressive Conservatives say the only reason McGuinty prorogued the legislature when he resigned Monday was to avoid more fallout on the cost of the cancelled gas plants.
   
The Liberals say taxpayers will be on the hook for $230 million for the cancelled energy projects in Oakville and Mississauga, but the opposition parties say it’s at least triple that amount.