Updated: Thu Oct. 04 2007 3:54:51 PM

toronto.ctv.ca

New Democratic Leader Howard Hampton lashed out at Progressive Conservative leader John Tory and the media on Thursday, claiming Tory's proposal to fund faith-based schools has dominated the campaign spotlight.

During a speech in Hamilton, Hampton claimed the real issues affecting Ontarians, such as adequate care for seniors and child poverty, are being ignored by the media.

"All I've heard from the media is you want to talk about faith-based schools. There are real issues out there," Hampton shouted at reporters on Thursday.

"We've become the child poverty capital of Canada. Don't any of you people care? Don't you care about that? Don't you care that there are seniors living in soiled diapers?"

Tory proposed spending $400 million to bring private religious schools under the public umbrella, a controversial idea among Ontarians and members of his own Conservative party.

Earlier this week, the PC leader said if elected premier he would will allow a free vote in the legislature on the plan.

When questioned about the quality of care seniors receive in the province, Tory took the opportunity to attack Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty's track record.

"These are the most elderly and the most vulnerable people of all in our society. Mr. McGuinty made some pretty big commitments to them at the time of the last election and afterwards and failed to deliver on those," Tory told reporters on Thursday during a speech in Kingston, Ont.

"We now have a situation that to me is absolutely beyond comprehension where we are sitting talking about regulations that measure how much urine is acceptable in a diaper," Tory said referring to a recent Toronto Star article detailing horrific conditions in provincially-funded elderly care homes.

Focusing on health care during a campaign stop in eastern Ontario, Tory said McGuinty has done "virtually nothing" to ensure Ontarians, especially residents living in rural areas, have access to family physicians.

The PC leader said in the Kingston area alone, about 20,000 people are without a family doctor.

McGuinty maintains more than half a million people gained access to family doctors during his four years in power.

Tory repeated a campaign promise Thursday to invest $400 million annually to defer debt repayments for medical students.

He also vowed to launch an aggressive campaign to lure doctors back to Ontario. Tory estimates some 9,000 Canadian-trained physicians are now practising medicine in the U.S.

With a report from CTV's Paul Bliss and files from The Canadian Press