The big test for the Ontario election debate is ahead of the four party leaders when they clash in the only televised meeting in the entire province of the campaign next Monday night.
Meanwhile, Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford, New Democratic Party leader Andrea Horvath, Liberal leader Stephen Del Duca and Green Party leader Mike Schreiner will seek to learn from Tuesday’s lower North-focused debate.
Here is what Tuesday’s event revealed about the strengths and weaknesses of each leader in the debate and what they will have to achieve when the eyes of the whole province are focused on them next week.
Doug Ford
As a current and current favorite, according to CBC News Ontario Poll Tracker, Ford has the most to lose in the debate, so its dominant mission is simply not to stumble. The main goal is not to provide videos in which he looks bad, which can be expanded in front of a wider audience on television, radio and online.
Ford’s strategy to achieve this seems to be not to catch the bait from its opponents when they hit it. Instead, Ford is trying to redirect any criticism of him back to the Liberals and their 15 years in power.
This is political jiu-jitsu: using the power of an enemy attack and turning it into the enemy.
Ford entered into several heated talks with the other three leaders on Tuesday in the debate in Northern Ontario – most notably during a section on the PC government’s handling of COVID-19. (Gino Donato / Canadian Press)
The best example of this was Ford’s response to a question about highways in the north. “Mr Del Duca, you had your chance and you failed,” Ford said. – You were Minister of Transport. You have built absolutely nothing.
Ford went through the 90-minute debate almost unscathed, so in that sense the mission for computers is fulfilled. However, he revealed several weaknesses that could cost him on the far larger stage of the debate across the province.
CBC Radio’s Morning North moderator Marcus Schwabe asked Ford a clear question about his government’s performance in the COVID-19 pandemic. That was something Ford had to manage to hit from the park. Instead, he turned out to be defensive, in a tone that hinted at how difficult it is to be prime minister in a pandemic.
“We left around the clock,” Ford said. “I will tell you, people, there were some difficult moments and really difficult decisions.
After the discussion about COVID-19 opened up to other leaders, Ford responded to their criticism as if it hurt him personally, saying he was “shocked and disappointed.” Ford executives will probably want to rethink how it answers questions about next Monday’s pandemic.
VIDEO Doug Ford, Stephen Del Duca collide for highways
“You Failed”: Doug Ford Shoot Stephen Del Duca During His Last Job as Minister of Transport
The Liberal leader responded by attacking a computer plan to build Highway 413 in the GTA. 2:26
The debate also revealed how much Ford relied on a teleprompter to read his speeches. Throughout his introductory and concluding notes – what should have been just a one-minute elevator presentation to voters – Ford kept looking down to read from the notes.
It probably doesn’t matter to many voters, but it certainly risks leading some observers to conclude that Ford’s words are not authentic.
Andrea Horvat
The NDP leader appears to have strayed from the top of Tuesday’s debate. She declined to talk to doctors and nurses about the municipal property tax system and shuffled her answer to a question about the impact of AirBnB accommodation.
During her 12 years at the helm of the NDP, Horwath sometimes struggled to make strong remarks in a strong, clear way, instead of pausing often with hmm and ahh.
This is not an obstacle to winning elections: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s questions and answers with reporters are filled with hmm and ah. Still, Croatia will benefit next Monday to show more confidence in understanding the issues.
Horvat managed to score points for Del Duca when she cited what she sees as the failures of the former liberal government. “He doesn’t want anyone to look in the rearview mirror because he left a wreck there.” (Gino Donato / Canadian Press)
Horvath is best in the debate when he hits Ford and Del Duca for their failures in government.
She succeeded when she hit Ford on the promise of an “iron ring around long-term care that never came”. Her best blow to Del Duca came when she pulled out a list of things liberal governments had done, adding: “He doesn’t want anyone looking in the rearview mirror because they left a wreck there.
Horvat will have to create more such moments if he wants to draw attention to the debate across the province and increase his chances of winning in the last two weeks of the campaign.
Stephen Del Duca
Ontario Liberal operatives like to say that Del Duca’s opponents underestimate him at their own risk. Unlike Ford, Del Duca never relies on a teleprompter, and unlike Horvat, he shows no verbal uncertainty when talking about politics.
Del Duca’s strong mastery of the material means that he looks quite unperturbed, which is not a bad thing in a debate. Still, there is something left in the way he conveys this material, which can also be flat and without passion.
Del Duca attacked Ford for the PC plan to build Highway 413, describing it as a project that “will destroy the green belt, farmland and wetlands and save only a handful of travelers in seconds.” (Gino Donato / Canadian Press)
Like it or not, emotions are a factor in politics and election campaigns. Del Duca could benefit from attracting the hearts of voters as much as their heads.
The biggest manifestation of Del Duca’s feelings on Tuesday came when he thwarted Ford’s plans to build Highway 413, providing direct information on why voters should be interested. The Liberal leader described it as “spending $ 10 billion of his money” on a project that “will destroy the green belt, farmland and wetlands and save only a handful of travelers in seconds.”
Mike Schreiner
The leader of the Ontario Green Party has the most to gain and the least to lose from this debate, and he is clearly seizing the opportunity.
Schreiner was the destroyer in the Northern Ontario debate, able to go on the offensive against all other leaders without focusing on any of their attacks.
Schreiner was able to go on the offensive against all other leaders without focusing on any of their attacks. (Gino Donato / Canadian Press)
One clever tactic used by Schreiner was to confront Ford with a direct question of yes or no. Ford’s question about whether to end the government’s wage-limiting wage bill on public sector workers, including nurses, seems to have put the PC leader on its back.
Schreiner has long been known by those who follow Queen’s Park closely as a powerful communicator. The next debate cannot fail to give it a broader profile and a little blow to the green candidates in the province. Whether this will really be enough of a blow to win more Green seats remains to be seen.
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