None of the above, thank you - IRPP

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Robin V. Sears
In politics, it is not usually an advantage
to be the newcomer, a woman
and the pollsters’ choice as weakest
competitor. The licence, the light scrutiny
and the room Horwath was granted
by her opponents was, perhaps, the
exception that proves the rule.
She did not give much of a glimpse
of the detail of an NDP government,
and critics complained that of the
three she looked the least like a premier.
Her team chuckled at the sniping,
confident that she had done what she
needed to do: look like she belonged
on that stage, and that under pressure
she was a competent and confident
performer. Three polls in rapid succession
confirmed their confidence, as
Horwath’s profile and approval slowly
lifted in the campaign’s final days.
The campaign’s closing days were
anti-climactic as the three campaigns
attempted to solidify their positions.
The New Democrats continued to
pound their “who will fight for you
message” with confidence and a leader
who not only did not stumble but visibly
grew in confidence. Horwath’s final
rallies were large and boisterous, while
the Liberal war room cruelly put out on
their various websites hidden camera
shots of Hudak delivering his stump
speech to rooms more than half empty.
The sense that his campaign had
stumbled irretrievably came in the final
days when the Tory campaign promoted
a leaflet that was explicitly homophobic,
slandered teachers as a profession and
made bizarrely false claims about sex
education in Ontario schools. It was as if
some internal gremlin had set about sabotaging
each potential growth area for
the party, demographic by demographic.
Having made any Ontario voter who
had ever been humiliated by being singled
out as a ‘foreigner’ feel insulted
once more, the Tory campaign then
OPTIONS POLITIQUES
NOVEMBRE 2011
attacked the tolerance of urban
Ontarians about sexual orientation. For a
deadly icing on this political cake, they
attacked the profession that had represented
the key flash point of the Harris
era: Ontario teachers.
On election night, the Hudak campaign
failed to break through in
Toronto or other parts of urban
Ontario, where the gay community
and those who see inclusive treatment
of their friends in that community as
A more professional campaign by the Tories, focused on a
positive and inclusive conservative vision of Ontario, would
probably have come much closer to victory, especially in 905,
where the same multicultural voters who had flocked to
Harper deserted Hudak following the “foreign workers” foray.
something that makes them proud of
their province. They lost the new
Canadian communities in the arc of
seats across northwest suburban
Toronto that Harper had done so well
in only a few months earlier, sweeping
21 of the 22 ridings in the suburban
905 belt around Toronto. They racked
up wasted majorities in small town,
rural and Eastern Ontario, dooming
most of their star candidates to defeat.
The results were surprising in a
number of tight races where strong
incumbents, and several ministers, went
down to defeat. But in the province
overall the shift of 17 seats to the combined
opposition parties for a government
seeking a third term in a recession
was hardly surprising. A more professional
campaign by the Tories, focused
on a positive and inclusive conservative
vision of Ontario, would probably have
come much closer to victory, especially
in 905, where the same multicultural
voters who had flocked to Harper deserted
Hudak following the “foreign workers”
foray. The NDP might have elected
another half dozen seats with only a few
more votes appropriately scattered. But
given from how far behind they had
come, given that very few voters had
ever heard of their leader at the beginning
of the campaign, they were pleased
with their gains.
Since its glory days under David
Peterson, the Ontario Liberal Party has
been famous for a self-regard, a dismissive
approach to those outside their
political family. This arrogance, even
more offensive to many voters after the
Liberals’ eight years in power, was visible
throughout the campaign. On election
night the premier hailed his
supporters and thanked his voters as if
he had just won a massive new mandate.
The messages from the Premier’s
Office in the days following were not
encouraging to those who
thought a slice of contrition
and humility were the
appropriate response to leading
a minority government.
His team leaked to reporters
the names of opposition
MPPs they would seek to get
to cross the floor. Some went so far as to
spin that they expected to be in power
for four more years and would govern as
if they had a majority.
Horwath, in a gracious election
night concession speech, called on her
two opponents to govern in recognition
of the voters’ nuanced message to
all the parties, saying that she expected
to meet with them soon to begin
planning the new session. Hudak had
done the same. In an elegant and emotional
speech, Hudak made it clear that
he is a far more interesting and
nuanced politician than his campaign
had permitted him to reveal. He avoided
the kind of tub-thumping in which
the Premier indulged. It was the sort of
concession speech at the end of which
professionals from every political tribe
nod to each other and say, “He’ll grow.
He’ll be back.”
Astonishingly, in response a week
later, the Premier announced that he
would not have any discussions with
either of the two opposition leaders
before the opening of the new
Legislature. The government will want
to listen to its worried friends and
allies about the need to adopt a less
provocative stance to governing, given
that they will be selling a very bitter
political message to Ontario voters in
the weeks and months ahead.