Doug Ford promises to build roads and restore rail in northern Ontario

Two of the three party leaders were out campaigning on Sunday, with Doug Ford in the north talking roads and railways, and Andrea Horwath having a Mother's Day brunch in Cambridge with local candidates and their families before heading to Sudbury.

Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca took a personal day.

In Timmins, Ford announced that if re-elected, the Progressive Conservatives would spend $74 million to rebuild the crumbling Highway 101 and resume Northlander train service, two measures that were part of his government's budget released in late April before the election campaign began.

We are saying yes to connecting Timmins, saying yes to doing roads and rail for northeastern Ontario," Ford said at a Sunday morning campaign event, adding that the former Liberal government derailed the Northlander ... (and) cut this community off from the rest of the province."

He also took a swipe at the New Democrats, which hold the Timmins riding, saying the party would rather protest a road than build one."

The Tories are hoping to nab the riding on June 2 with high-profile candidate George Pirie, Timmins mayor. He is running against popular NDP incumbent Gilles Bisson, who has been an MPP since 1990.

The 21-kilometre Highway 101 is among the worst in the province, and heavily used by locals and mining and forestry vehicles, and Ford said it is in rough shape with crater-sized potholes."

The PCs are promising $75 million to restart the Northlander trains to the northeast, providing a direct link to the southern end of the province and also extending it to Cochrane.

Former PC MPP Belinda Karahalios holds Cambridge, but the NDP holds a number of seats in the Kitchener-Waterloo region and is hoping to make gains in the area.

Horwath was in the area to celebrate Mother's Day with incumbents MPPs Catherine Fife (Waterloo) and Laura Mae Lindo (Kitchener Centre) as well as candidates Marjorie Knight (Cambridge), Karen Meissner (Kitchener-Conestoga) and Joanne Weston (Kitchener South-Hespeler).

While Del Duca had no public events scheduled, his election team sent out a news release saying that Ford had not managed to make any progress on building roads to the mineral-rich Ring of Fire - northeast of Thunder Bay - while in office over the past four years.

Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy