Liberals need a new narrative

OAKVILLE, ONT.—When the federal Liberals suffered their recent stunning electoral defeat in Toronto-St. Paul's, Ont., they lost more than just a byelection. They also lost a really good narrative. And, yes, that matters; good narratives are precious in politics. Simply put, if you have an inspirational, easy-to-understand, feel-good story associated with your party or candidate, something that captures the media’s imagination, motivates the public, and energizes your base, it can go a long way towards ensuring political success. As a species, humans can’t resist a good yarn; it’s built into our DNA. So, the Liberals were hoping a win in Toronto-St. Paul's would be the start of a good tale, and it’s easy to envision what that story would have looked like. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would have gleefully declared that all those opinion polls showing him badly trailing the Conservative Party didn’t really reflect political reality. He’d say something like, “As the Toronto-St. Paul's byelection so clearly proves, when citizens go into that voting booth when they have to make a decision that truly counts, they will still embrace Liberal policies and ideas.” How do I know they’d do this? Well, when it initially looked like the Liberals might actually win that byelection by a pretty good margin, some prominent party members jumped the gun and started to publicly spin such a narrative before the race had even officially ended. For example, fairly early on byelection night, former Liberal cabinet minister Sheila Copps tweeted on “X,” “You also have to wonder why the Tories, with a 20 per cent lead in the national polls, didn’t do better in a riding with a 15 per cent Jewish vote. Maybe the community likes Liberal Party policies.” So, the narrative was clearly ready to be sprung. I’m also certain the Liberals were prepared to incorporate the Edmonton Oilers into their narrative had that team managed to stage a miracle comeback from being down three games to none to win the Stanley Cup. That’d be the cherry on the top for the Liberal narrative making. In fact, I could certainly picture a beaming Prime Minister Trudeau standing up before a Liberal crowd, saying something such as “Everybody counted the Oilers out, but they didn’t give up and they stormed back to win. Now it’s our turn to storm back. And tonight’s victory in Toronto is the start of our comeback!!” (Cue wild cheers from the audience.) My point is, the Liberals were hoping a byelection win would generate a positive story, which would generate positive media, which would give the Liberals a bump in the polls, which would boost the “Liberals now have momentum” storyline, which would generate more positive headlines. In other words, a proper messaging strategy would have taken a byelection victory and turned it into a virtuous messaging circle for the Liberals. Of course, although the Oilers and the Liberals may have triumphed in some alternative timeline, neither of them did so in our reality. But while the Oilers can at least still present themselves in their own story as plucky over-achievers, the Liberals don’t even have a story to tell. By losing the Toronto-St. Paul's byelection, the Liberals not only lost a chance at creating a positive narrative, but they also lost control of the narrative. Now it’s the media that is crafting the Liberals' story with negative headlines such as “Justin Trudeau, seller of Sunny Ways, has no answer” and “Justin Trudeau’s political career is over” popping up all over the place. If the Liberals are going to survive this, they’ll need a new story, and they’ll need it soon. Gerry Nicholls is a communications consultant. The Hill Times

Liberals need a new narrative

By losing the recent byelection, the Liberals not only lost a chance at creating a good narrative, but also lost control of the narrative. If the party is going to survive this, it’ll need a new story very soon.

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Liberals need a new narrative

By losing the recent byelection, the Liberals not only lost a chance at creating a good narrative, but also lost control of the narrative. If the party is going to survive this, it’ll need a new story very soon.

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