Northern Light
Superstar
Whatever the outcome; I feel like both the Liberals and NDP have run lackluster campaigns.
To be fair, so have the Conservatives; but when trying to unseat an incumbent government there are really two things you want..........
The first is a base desire for change; a feeling that the existing government could use replacing. There are plenty of reasons people ought to feel that way, but to the extent some swing voters
are not yet feeling that way, you want to cultivate that.
The Ford government's weak points are clearly the handling of Covid, particularly as pertains to long-term care; and failure to deliver on two populist promises from the last campaign.....
buck-a-beer and beer in convenience stores. They have lots of other problems, but running a province-wide campaign over some suspect MZOs or even 413 doesn't make sense.
I don't think 413 is a vote winner for Ford; I just don't think its a big vote loser, particularly in swing ridings, or any riding much outside the GTA.
The other thing you want in a campaign is to be the choice of people in search of change; that is to say, to have a positive message with 2-5 clear, loud commitments that resonate, and are credible.
In an election in which housing affordability is probably the lead issue, the Conservative have little in the window; there are some good policies in other platforms, but they are generally convoluted and
difficult to understand making it difficult to translate them into votes.
I'm pro pharmacare and dental care and new provincial parks among lots of other things, but its a political mistake to crowd the window with items that aren't at the top of the voters priority list;
and to do so in such a way that people are disinclined to believe these things will make a tangible difference for them.
