Premier Dalton McGuinty is having trouble figuring out what he wants his image to be two years before an election, and he may be ignoring his best bet.
The Liberal premier a few months ago was trying to get himself known as The Education Premier, based on help he has given education including increasing funding and keeping peace with teachers, but this never caught on. The only people heard venturing it were Liberal ministers and aides and certainly it was not a common talking point in barbershops and bus queues.
While many feel deeply about education, it also may be too narrow an issue on which to base an election.
McGuinty is hampered in winning a positive image particularly because he broke a promise not to increase taxes and more recently his finance minister, Greg Sorbara, had to resign because he is being investigated by police.
In his speech from the throne, the premier reached out for another image, as a leader who can assure economic prosperity.
He titled the speech, although it covered many topics, Strengthening Ontario?s Economic Advantage, and claimed that, while the province faces
challenges in the global economy, he has set it on courses that can overcome them.
Liberals need to suggest they can be good economic managers, because voters in many elections have considered this their weak point.
But McGuinty oddly keeps ignoring the best potential weapon the Liberals have, that they have done more to protect residents on a wider range of issues, sometimes treading on new ground, than any government in memory.
Among many examples, they will ban smoking in all workplaces and enclosed public spaces starting next June and are the first government in Canada to put drastic curbs on pit bulls, which have caused horrific injuries.
They will no longer accept residents being judged by religious law and, as part of a campaign to make them fitter, will require elementary schools to remove junk foods from vending machines and replace them with milk and granola bars and give students more physical exercise.
The ruling Liberals will direct much future home-building toward city centres to restrain urban sprawl which causes residents to drive too much and promotes pollution and obesity, and prevent building on a huge area of southern Ontario to preserve a greenbelt.
They are giving municipalities more powers to protect historic buildings for the public benefit.
Among new traffic safety measures, they require car safety seats for more children and deter motorists passing school buses parked with their lights flashing, which has caused deaths, by permitting police to charge owners as well as drivers, and this list could go on.
The Liberals? failings include giving miserly increases in welfare benefits and the minimum wage.
But it still is an impressive list of going further to protect than previous governments, their only rivals being the New Democrats from l990-95, who focused a little more narrowly on safeguarding organized labour.
McGuinty?s biggest single theme by far has been protecting residents, but he has put little effort into publicizing it. He marked completing his second year as premier by giving interviews to news media and never once mentioned protecting residents among his accomplishments.
McGuinty employs hordes of public relations people to promote his policies and there has to be a reason he has not emphasized the many ways he is protecting people.
The most likely is he worries some will accuse him of creating a cradle-to-the-grave ?nanny state,? which can be a dangerous label these days, but these are still policies that can help him win an election.
Eric Dowd is a member of the Queen?s Park press gallery.
