As political theatre, I don’t know that leaders debates have any real winners, but one thing is certain after watching the first televised leaders debate of this provincial election on Monday: Kathleen Wynne is pushing a very large boulder up a very steep hill.
The debate was hosted by Citytv in Toronto, so a good deal of the questions focused on very urban issues particular to the GTA. Still, the event was instructive.
Speaking of instructive, this month Sudbury.com will be sitting down with local election candidates who agree to be on video to discuss their campaigns and the issues with political affairs reporter Darren MacDonald. We’ll keep you posted on those and let you know when they’ll be released. In the meantime, visit the Election section of Sudbury.com to see the news releases and election stories we have published.
But back to the debate. With one question, PC leader Doug Ford summed up, I think, the feeling of many Ontarians chafing after 15 years of Liberal rules: Kathleen, when did you lose your way?
Between hydro rates and hydro debt (as necessary to protecting the integrity of our electrical system as incurring that debt might have been), overcrowded hospitals, a massive deficit and host of other scandals and frustrations, Wynne and the Liberals are not only pushing a boulder in this election race, they're dragging heavy baggage behind them.
Wynne is a skilled legislator, a solid (if pedantic) debater and a good campaigner, but Monday night her confidence appeared smug. Her attempts to out-rhetoric Ford and out-spend NDP leader Andrea Horwath appear desperate.
If the Liberals are defeated, it will end 15 years of provincial largesse for Greater Sudbury. That regular infusion of government money (ask any reporter in Sudbury about "funding Fridays") will be a big loss. And it's a loss that will be felt.
While Ford wasn’t very impressive in the debate, he also wasn’t terrible. Sure, he looked nervous. Yes, he seemed unsure of himself at times. And yes, he wasn’t the firebrand some expected he might be, but he also didn’t make any glaring gaffs. He didn’t say or do anything to damage the PC cause, and that’s a good thing for the party's election hopes.
But as Horwath rightly pointed out, his promises are all vague. It may be, as the NDP leader suggests, his trumpeting of populist slogans (line by line, putting money in your pocket instead of the government’s, down with the urban elites, I’m just like you etc. etc.) are stand-ins for real policies. Maybe. It could also be a deliberate strategy to keep the message simple.
Still, he’s promising massive fat-trimming cuts (you know, to put more money in your pocket) but cuts to what? By how much? To what impact?
And while some have compared Ford’s approach to U.S. President Donald Trump’s, that wasn’t overly apparent on Monday. Ford says the right words, but says them without any real passion or conviction, reciting familiar populist talking points as if they were magic spells, as if the words themselves had all the power, when it’s the delivery of those words that matters most.
Horwath, meanwhile, did her level best not to appear to be the third wheel as Ford and Wynne parried and riposted, leaving the NDP leader looking a little put out as she tried to find an opening. That, in some way, has been the NDP’s lot for the past 20 years: always trying to find an opening.
I think Horwath’s performance probably pulled some undecideds to her side. Ford, too, may have drawn some support with his simple, slogan-heavy approach (dog-whistle terms do well in the quick, confusing cut and thrust of debates). Though his biggest accomplishment on the night is that he didn’t make any major flubs in his first debate that would drive significant numbers of voters away.
Wynne, on the other hand, has a lot of ground to make up and she didn’t get more than a few steps forward on Monday, pushing a boulder 15 years in the making up that steep hill of public opinion.
Come June 7, that boulder might roll back and crush the Liberals’ election hopes with it.
Mark Gentili is the editor of Sudbury.com and Northern Life.
