There’s an air of unreality about Ontario politics these days.
At Queen’s Park, Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals are pretending it is business as usual. A new session of the Legislature begins at noon on Monday with the reading of the Speech from Throne, and Finance Minister Charles Sousa will follow with his 2018 budget on March 28.
In a demonstration of organizational incompetence seldom seen in Canadian politics, the Ontario Progressive Conservatives found a way on Saturday to deny their leadership to candidate Christine Elliott, who both won the popular vote and carried a majority of the province’s 124 ridings.
Instead, Doug Ford, older brother of Toronto’s late mayor Rob Ford, was declared the winner under the party’s absurdly complicated and error-riven system of “electoral points,” which was heavily loaded in favour of ridings where the party has few members.
“Trade wars are good, and easy to win” – President Donald Trump, by tweet, 5:50 a.m. ET, March 2, 2018.
Excuse me, but Donald Trump is a fool – a blithering, dangerous fool.
This is the 21st century. Trade wars are never good. In today’s interdependent world, they may be impossible for any nation to win, even the United States, which is no longer the economic colossus that Trump, stuck in an isolationist time warp, believes it is.
See this recent story on research by LISPOP associates Jason Roy and Christopher Alcantara on negative ads, star candidates, and endorsements. Are they effective? Should campaigners in the Ontario eleciton pay attention to them?
Check it out!
Social media is a faithless lover, as Justin Trudeau learned to his pain in India last week.
From the moment he was elected in October 2015, the prime minister was the darling of the web. With a few churlish (and generally right-wing) exceptions, social media loved him. He was so handsome, so virile, so articulate, so caring and compassionate – so unlike Donald Trump. He was stylish, and cool. Did you see his tattoo? Just look at his darling socks! What colour will he wear tomorrow?
“Words fail me,” a long-time Ontario Tory insider.
This veteran of many campaigns is not alone. Many of his fellows – organizers, workers, candidates and rank-and-file members – are aghast at what is going on in the party they have supported through good times and not-so-good times.
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”– Will Rogers (1879-1935), actor, humorist and social commentator.
The three candidates for the leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party know whereof Rogers spoke. They are scheduled to face off this Thursday night in a debate to be broadcast province-wide on TVOntario. The party says a second debate will be held later, but the date has not been determined.
There is a school of thought among Ontario Progressive Conservatives that the worst is behind them, that the scandals and upheaval of the past two weeks will prove to be a blessing in disguise as the party moves ahead with a new leader and fresh resolve to wrest control of the province from the detested Kathleen Wynne and her shopworn Liberals.
A skeptic might dismiss this as cockeyed optimism, but the notion that from disaster will spring great fortune is gaining traction. It is worth examining.
Caroline Mulroney has a bright political future. She may be premier of Ontario one day, if such remains her ambition. But now is not her moment.
Her name was the first out of the mouths of television pundits in the hours following the stunning demise last week of Patrick Brown as the leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives – the man oddsmakers were touting to win the provincial election in June. But Brown is gone, his career ruined by exposure of his alleged penchant for inebriated teenage girls.
Many of the globe’s big shooters in government, business, the arts and media will assemble in Davos, Switzerland Tuesday for the start of the annual four-day World Economic Forum.
The political landscape they will review has changed dramatically since they gathered a year ago, due primarily to one leader who may or may not show up. That’s U.S. President Donald Trump whose attendance, as of this writing, was contingent on the absurd government shutdown drama being staged once again in Washington – the 19th shutdown “crisis” since 1976.
Opinion-Policy Nexus is a forum of opinion and commentary on topics related to public opinion and public policy. Views expressed in any blog entry are those of the author and do not reflect LISPOP's positions.
