Playing the game of politics

OAKVILLE, ONT.—A successful political consultant once told me the thing he loved most about his job was “playing the game.” In other words, he enjoyed surmounting all the challenges associated with running a political campaign: plotting a winning communication strategy, finding trends to exploit, matching wits with a skilled opponent, etc. Of course, it also gave him great joy to win the game. His is an attitude I think many political consultants and strategists share. Basically, they see themselves as grand masters of strategy-making moves and counter-moves on the political chessboard. At the end of the day, all that matters for them is making enough right moves to win. Unfortunately, one side effect of this focus on tactics is that ideals and values often get left by the wayside. If ideology is seen as a game piece that doesn’t help a strategist win, or, even worse, if it’s seen as an obstacle to winning, he or she will often take it off the board without a second thought. In short, political strategists are usually more influenced by Clausewitz or Sun Tzu, than they are by Marx or Hayek. As you might imagine, this strategist mindset can often alienate people outside the process. Indeed, for people who regard political contests as more than just a game and who care about ideology, this approach of putting tactics first and foremost not only comes across as extremely cynical, but also as a threat to our civic ideals. We can see this tension between strategists and outsiders in the current Conservative Party leadership race. Case in point, Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre’s team recently made an interesting tactical move when it called upon Elections Canada to investigate fellow candidate Patrick Brown over alleged election law violations. More specifically, Poilievre’s team is alleging Brown offered to refund membership fees to the new members who he signed up. As Conservative MP Tim Uppal (a Poilievre supporter) put it in a letter to Elections Canda, “The surreptitious reimbursement of membership fees by supporters allows campaigns to receive donations in excess of individual donor limits, outside the party’s directed donation scheme, and results in a campaign incurring unreported expenditures.” From a strategist point of view, this is actually a brilliant move. After all, if Elections Canada decides to investigate, it’ll give Poilievre an opportunity to go on the campaign trail and say “My opponent Patrick Brown is currently under investigation for breaking our election laws!” Sounds pretty bad, doesn’t it? Plus, it doesn’t even matter if Brown is ultimately exonerated, because by then the damage will be done. Yet, some don’t see this ploy as brilliant. For instance, writing in The Hill Times, columnist Michael Harris called Poilievre a “slur king” who is “pissing inside the tent.” Wrote Harris, “They are usually so busy slagging each other; any notion of policy is at best an after-thought.” I wouldn’t be surprised if many in the Conservative Party base also share that view. Not understanding or appreciating the underlying tactics of Poilievre’s gambit, they probably just don’t like the idea of Conservative bashing Conservatives. This is why political strategists can’t allow themselves to become too consumed by the game aspect of their profession. They have to realize that people who support political parties tend to be more idealistic about politics, which they view as a way to make the world a better place. This doesn’t mean strategists can’t execute clever tactics; it doesn’t mean they can’t have fun playing the game. It just means they should be careful about treating ideals and values as if they were expendable pawns. Gerry Nicholls is a communications consultant. The Hill Times

Playing the game of politics

Political strategists should continue to execute clever tactics and have fun playing the game, but they should be careful about treating ideals and values as if they were expendable pawns.

Canada’s aging crisis and a call for reform in eldercare

Sudan’s warring sides and the long-simmering ethnic conflict

Balanced approach needed on right-to-repair bill, protecting IP rights and public safety

Reflections from a new citizen

Public Safety Canada’s dealing with natural and communication infrastructure disasters

As COP29 wraps up, will Canada finally stop funding fossils this fall?

Polls as propaganda

The appeal of new parties

Pundits versus strategists

Explaining the Alberta election

For Poilievre, the CBC is a hot-button issue

News

Get free news updates

Opinion

Submit a guest opinion article

resources

Advertise

subscribe

get help

Get free news updates

Submit a guest opinion article

Playing the game of politics

Political strategists should continue to execute clever tactics and have fun playing the game, but they should be careful about treating ideals and values as if they were expendable pawns.

Get The Weekend Point of View Newsletter