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Ontario Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne says injecting money into the auto industry is the only way to stimulate the sector, while the Progressive Conservatives are arguing lower taxes would be more effective.

As the blackout ban on campaign ads lifted Wednesday ahead of the June 12 vote, Ms. Wynne drove home the message of her first TV spot while touring the Omega Tool Corp. plant in Windsor, Ont. Her bottom line: the PCs and Liberals have opposite approaches on how to fix the provinces recovering economy and its time for voters to pick a path.

In terms of the choices in front of the people of Ontario, I think theyre very stark, she said after touring the manufacturing facility.

Her announcement of the partys plans to support the auto industry was an example of Ms. Wynnes strategy to position her party as the polar opposite of the PCs. While the Liberals want to inject money to stimulate the sector including a 10-year $2.5-billion Jobs and Prosperity Fund the PC party argues lower taxes across the board would do more good than one-off, hefty investments.

Ms. Wynne promoted her partys previous investments in the auto sector, such as a $70.9-million contribution to Fords Oakville assembly plant in 2013, which she said helped save 2,800 jobs. She then took aim at one of her opponents, saying Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak would destroy the auto industry, by ending government funding to bolster the sector.

The PC party argues their plan would help keep jobs in Ontario for the long run, without government spending. On Wednesday, Mr. Hudak criticized Ms. Wynne, saying government handouts just reward the well-connected. He did not respond to a question about automotive sector bailouts helping to preserve jobs in the province, however.

Instead, Mr. Hudak reiterated his pledge that lowering taxes and hydro costs would bolster the manufacturing industry in Ontario. Mr. Hudak made a campaign stop at Horizon Plastics in Cobourg, Ont. a manufacturing plant that has relocated some of its production to a satellite factory in a tax haven in Mexico, and one that has also benefited from government grants.

In 2011, Horizon received nearly $2-million through the provincial Innovation Demonstration Fund. At the time, a statement said this grant would help create as many as 350 new jobs.

Horizon president Peter Garvey did not answer questions on Wednesday.

Mr. Hudak claimed, however, that the factory currently has just over 200 people on its payroll, down from roughly 400 a decade ago. When asked about the fact that the company had benefited from grants in the past, Mr. Hudak said, Theyd benefit a lot more from lower taxes and affordable energy, and Peter [Garvey] agrees with me on that.

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Liberals tout spending, PCs push lower taxes for Ontario auto industry