Predictions are flying the Ontario Oct. 10 election campaign will turn nasty. So what will the politicians be saying about each other?
General elections also have grown steadily more aggressive. In the last election in 2003, the Progressive Conservatives pointed to “Squinty McGuinty, he’s still not up to the job.”
The Liberals are certain to recall an incident in 1993, when John Tory, now Ontario Conservative leader and their closest challenger, co-chaired a campaign to re-elect prime minister Kim Campbell and ran TV commercials emphasizing the partial facial paralysis of Liberal leader Jean Chretien.
A voice commented it would be embarrassing if Chretien became prime minister and the commercials were deplored by politicians in all parties and helped Campbell lose the election.
The Ontario Liberals remember this, because every couple of months one of their backbenchers drops it into a debate, and it is too tempting a weapon to resist using if they feel pressed.
Some will feel recalling the incident is unfair, because it happened a long time ago and has nothing to do with the policies being debated in the current Ontario campaign.
But there also is the argument it is fair game, because politicians should be judged on their records, which are guides to how they will behave in the future.
The Liberals probably will raise Tory’s record in business, when he ran a large cable TV company and cut jobs, which they also have referred to briefly in the legislature.
Job losses currently are a hot topic, but most business leaders have cut some at times and it may even come with the job.
But the Liberals will gain if they can make Tory seen as a boss who did not hesitate to cut others’ jobs, but kept his own.
The Liberals likely will stress Tory is rich, which does not have much relevance. His father is wealthy, he has good connections in business and was being paid $1 million a year when he quit to run in politics.
Tory will respond he has been more fortunate than many and worked hard and helped his employers succeed. But politicians like to be seen as ordinary citizens, knowing first-hand their concerns.
For this reason Tory’s predecessor, Conservative premier Ernie Eves, insisted he was more at home on Main St. than Bay St. Mike Harris called himself “Mike, the guy from next door.” Bob Rae, a silver-spooned New Democrat, wanted it known he also worries about paying his mortgage.
The Liberals will make sure voters know a Conservative candidate, Randy Hillier, as a farmers’ leader, blocked roads and encouraged demonstrators to defy police, and suggest Tory is comfortable with such tactics.
The Liberals have to be aware two former Ontario Conservative ministers Jim Flaherty, now a powerful federal finance minister, and Frank Klees argued when running against Tory for leader he lacked experience to lead a province and they could use his comrades’ assessments against him.
The Conservatives will peek further into the home life of Environment Minister Laurel Broten, who should be reducing pollution, but planned a two-storey garage at her house to accommodate four vehicles until neighbours objected.
The Liberals put out a photograph of Conservative MPP Lisa MacLeod with Tory at a rally and added a caption suggesting she wished she was elsewhere baking cookies. The Conservatives can accuse them of belittling all women in politics.
The Conservatives also can stress McGuinty has looked after a Liberal woman politician, Jane Stewart, exceptionally well, providing her with two well-paid assignments on the public payroll. She is the daughter of former party leader Robert Nixon, whom Liberals revere as “the best premier Ontario never had.”
There is a lot of scope for this debate to turn ugly.
Eric Dowd is a veteran member of the Queen’s Park press gallery.
