NDP must counter Poilievre’s skill harnessing anger of people who feel left behind, say labour experts
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s union endorsements in the province’s June election were more a media coup than a real shift in the labour landscape, say labour experts and NDP strategists, but they reinforced a wider perception that conservative parties are becoming a home for working-class voters who are angry about being left behind by larger […]
Ford’s brand strength, low public appetite for change key to PC win in Ontario, say politicos
The strength of the ‘Ford brand’ that easily overmatched what the Ontario Liberals and NDP had on offer, combined with a low-key communications and media strategy, pushed Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative Party into a second straight majority government, say politicos, with pollster Greg Lyle saying the premier “essentially won the job a year […]
Ontario’s perfect storm for apathy
OAKVILLE, ONT.—The Ontario election’s historically low voter turnout has generated lots of anxious handwringing. University professor and author Emmett Macfarlane bluntly summed up much of that anxiety when he tweeted, “The worst government in the history of the province and (censored) couldn’t even be bothered to vote. A pox on uninformed, apathetic citizens, most of […]
Federal Conservatives should look to Ford’s Ontario campaign for a more pragmatic, open-minded approach, say strategists
Ontario voters responded to Doug Ford’s more collaborative, open-minded approach to politics by sending the Progressive Conservatives to a second straight majority, say both a Liberal and Conservative strategist, but it’s not clear if any of the leading contenders for the federal Conservative leadership are interested in following that model. Shakir Chambers, who worked under former […]
What, if anything, does Ford’s victory in Ontario actually tell us?
OTTAWA—The outpouring of analysis on the re-election of Premier Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservative majority in Ontario makes interesting reading, but it may not amount to much. Ford benefited from the advantage of incumbency and having two main opposition leaders—the NDP’s Andrea Horwath and the Liberals’ Steven Del Duca—who couldn’t find a way to […]
In Ontario, economic anxiety prevails
Last Thursday night, it took only 18 minutes for the major networks to declare Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservatives the winners of the 2022 Ontario election. Later, we would learn that his team won a record 83 seats in the legislature. In 1995, Mike Harris similarly swept the Ontario election, winning 82 of the […]
Ontarians deserve better leaders
So far, the Ontario election campaign feels like a giant letdown, and E-Day hasn’t even arrived yet. No matter who takes office, it seems most Ontarians will wake up on June 6, look at the news, sigh and shrug. The outcome seems bleak, no matter what the result. As of writing, Ontario Progressive Conservative Premier […]
Kenney caught in quagmire of his own making
OTTAWA—Prior to the pandemic, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney was arguably the most powerful and influential conservative leader in Canada. Andrew Scheer, when he was federal opposition leader, had Kenney campaign for him in Ontario, while at the same time staying away from Ontario Premier Doug Ford. When Erin O’Toole was seeking to replace Scheer, he […]
Lost in the COVID haze: Ford’s record in Ontario seems largely forgotten by voters
OTTAWA—Whatever is in those mandate letters, it must be really politically embarrassing or damaging. In the summer of 2018, shortly after Premier Doug Ford took office, CBC Toronto asked that the mandate letters to his 23 cabinet colleagues be made public under freedom of information. The Progressive Conservative government refused, claiming they were exempt as […]
In praise of polling
OAKVILLE, ONT.—American politician Sarah Palin once dismissed polls saying they were for “strippers and cross-country skiers.” Of course, Palin isn’t the only politician who has ever disparaged polls and polling. The old expression “the only poll that matters is the one on election day” seems to pop up every election cycle. Yet, for all their […]
