Doug Ford defended his record and future plans during one of the last days of the election campaign, in which progressive attacks haven't seemed to stick.

The Progressive Conservative leader made stops on Monday in Ottawa West—Nepean, Orléans and Windsor—Tecumseh. The former is a traditionally Liberal riding that Ford would love to help PC incumbent Jeremy Roberts keep blue. The latter two are Liberal and NDP strongholds he'd love to take over.

Ford's speeches on Monday were nothing new. He's going to build and expand highways. The other parties don't want to (though the Liberals might). Unions are abandoning the left for a blue-collar conservative coalition (though many still hate the PCs).

But Ford also had to fend off criticisms put to him by reporters. He did so by sticking to his script and remaining dispassionate, even when prodded multiple times.

Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca has called Ottawa "the city that Ford forgot." He's slammed the PC leader for failing to promptly condemn the convoy occupation, and for not showing up in person to provide support. Del Duca also criticized Ford for not visiting Ottawa for more than a week after a major storm tore through the area. Thousands are still without power.

"I didn't go there for a photo op, like ... one candidate. That's for sure," Ford said, referring to Del Duca.

Ford said he was on the phone with the Hydro One CEO "every single day" and helped co-ordinate aid from Toronto Hydro and the United States.

Asked how he planned to make Ottawa's power grid more resilient, Ford deferred to his budget again. He said the government plans to spend $158 billion on infrastructure in the next decade and will support expanding small modular reactors.

He boosted the PC climate plan, which has been consistently attacked by experts and the auditor general for not addressing the crisis quickly enough. Arguably, the centrepiece of the Tory campaign is building more highways.

He said he was also focused on building transit infrastructure. "But let's keep in mind, 80 per cent of the people drive. They're going to continue to drive. And that's why we're focusing on putting electric cars on the road," he said.

Ford "respectfully disagree(d)" with the concept of induced demand — a rule among city planners that states that with more roads come more drivers.

He also promised to fix the child welfare system — the subject of a horrific Global/APTN investigation this week — without addressing how.

"I'm gonna jump all over that one," he said.

The investigation found much higher incidents of violence at private operators. Ford didn't seem open to changing to a public system.

"We're going to make sure we have more inspections going on, because, as far as I'm concerned, it's unacceptable," he said. "We inherited a mess. We restructured it, and it doesn't happen overnight, but we're moving as quickly as we can. "

Ford bats away criticisms in final week

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