The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

After all the Cold War rhetoric that dominated the summer months, when candidates weren‘t officially campaigning but were dropping policy bombs whenevâ€" er they could, the local hopefuls finally unfurled their banners with the drop of the election writ. to Start. And with three former or current schoolâ€"board trustees running for the Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo riding, you‘d think that education was the most pressing issue? Especially when Progressive Conâ€" servative party leader John Tory made the funding of private religious schools a campaign priority. Not necessarily, said the local candiâ€" dates. While education is central to most of their platforms, leadership was someâ€" thing most of themâ€"seemed to want to talk about. She said she always gets a sense for what people think is important while talking to them on the doorstep. And this year leadership seems to be resonating with a lot of voters. Particularly incumbent Elizabeth Witâ€" mer, who has sat in the legislature since 1990 and held such highâ€"profile cabinet posts as the minister of health, environâ€" ment and education as well as being the province‘s deputy premier under the Mike Harris and Ernie Eves governments. "I‘ve done quite a bit of door knockâ€" ing," said Witmer, taking a break on her first day on the campaign trail. "I think the whole issue of leadership is going to have some traction. "People do‘remember (Premier) Dalâ€" ton McGuinty‘s broken promises. They also remember that he said he wouldn‘t raise taxes and then he introduced the largest tax increase in the history of this province â€" the health tax." As for the funding of private religious schools, Witmer said one person asked her about that at the door but were just seeking some clarification on the issue. Also seeking clarification on the issue Continued on page 5 Provincial war of words gets underway he provincial election campaign finally kicked off on Monday, and it didn‘t take long for the shooting war By Bos VrBaNAc Chronicle Staff Ec ick The 11th annual Dionysia Festival took to the floor of the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex last Saturday and Sunday. Put on by the local Greek and Cypriot community, it featured the best in Hellenic cuisine and other cultural events like grape stomping. Trying her hand at making wine was Nicole Walker Holmes with the help of Laura Wensink. How about a glass of wine? 31’07 k)!ff WATERLOO PUBLIC LipRARY 808 VRBANAC PHOTO IELI.IPSE | Blinds Are Us 35b Sasaga Drive at Manitou Includes up to 5L of 10W30 & Standard Filter 355 Weber St. N., Waterloo 519.746. 1070 519.893.8687 (between Homer Watson and Wabanaki, past CAA) $140995 Siskins hit the ice Page 26 Two local girls get a chance to dance with top schools/Page 18 The Royal Medieval Faire celebrates 10th anniversary /Page 12 LIFESTYLE by Â¥inylbilt $3