Dalton McGuinty tries another new election tactic: run against Rob Ford
Yesterday, we shook our heads at the provincial Liberals’ seemingly wrong-headed campaign strategy of attempting to win the upcoming election by running against the Stephen Harper government in Ottawa. Today, we’re shaking our heads even harder at the second prong of Dalton McGuinty’s run-against-Conservatives-at-other-levels-of-government approach to staying in office: campaigning against Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
According to the Toronto Star:
With Ford poised to make controversial cuts to city services that threaten to undermine his popularity, the governing Grits plan to link the rookie Tory mayor with Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.
“If you don’t like what Ford’s cutting at city hall, you’re going to hate what Hudak is going to cut province-wide,” one senior campaign insider said Monday.
While government officials insist they have a “positive relationship” with the mayor — and cite their help on subway funding and outlawing TTC strikes and lockouts — they expect him to campaign for Hudak in the Oct. 6 election.
It’s good to see that the people at the Liberal Party of Ontario have eyes and ears that are connected to functioning minds, because the assumption that Fords will be campaigning for Hudak seems solid to the point of obvious. The big problem, however, is the assumption that the average Toronto voter will be as repelled by Ford in October as the Liberals themselves are (an assumption that sounds awfully familiar). The federal Liberals kept assuming that, after one more election, Canadians would turn against Harper, and they got a Conservative majority as an answer to their prayers.
Now maybe this will work for the Liberals—the timing of Toronto’s budget process will put the firestorm right prior to the election—but we’re skeptical. We would humbly suggest that the Liberals, having told us a bunch about what they’ll run against, start offering some actual positive reasons to vote for them again.
• Ontario Liberals pin hopes on Rob Ford fumbles [Toronto Star]
(Images: Dalton McGuinty—Jennifer K. Warren; city hall—Joey DeVilla)
The only people that will vote for Dalton are the public service sector or the e-health people and their ilk.
If you can’t vote Conservative because of your principles PLEASE PLEASE vote for the NDP.
Please, please, please people vote for anyone but the Liberals I and everyone I know can’t afford them anymore!
Dalton=killer of the middle class (unless your a government worker then your set with the liars).
I think it is hydro one that is throwing a fit.
Ford is so bad i think liberals will win,
bad article, lame comments as usual, of course McG is being brilliant here: all he has to do next fall is say ‘Rob Ford’ at every campaign event and he will win in a landslide. Ya could have seen this coming 6 months ago that Ford would self-destruct—even without being a jerk his money sense is just not there—and would bring back the LIbs. Which is great. Thanks, Mayor.
Get rid of some lazy fat a** in the public sector. Save tax payer’s money! Go Ford Go!
Wouldn’t want to live in a Harper/Hudak/Rob & Doug Ford Ontario. This three-headed beast would slash and cut vital services with impunity, and they’d try to convince you it was “good for business.”
McGuinty knows Ontario families are legitimately concerned. After all, they should be.
I hate McGimpy >:^(
A $ 20 billion annual. Budget. Deficit. Is a big accomplishment. We should be proud of Dalton as he speeds up the car in the face of an abyss.
A normal person would stop the car. Dalton is not normal. He is a drugged sociopath….ok…he is a politician spending our children’s future.
Comments attacking the public sector are a depressing view at how ridiculous American Tea Party rhetoric has infected the Canadian mind. Public sector workers work hard and aren’t rich.
In any case, cutting services just means that the average person will have to pay for that service to an unaccountable private business. Ford will cut so much that everyone will be affected at some level, even if you don’t think so now.
Rob Ford and his goons will destroy Toronto and not just by taking away decent jobs but making a toll booth operation were all pay for anything and everything while paying a hefty tax increase in property taxes.
I guess no one learned anything from the days of Mike Harris and now this joker Harper and his HST tax theft imposed on everything.
Conservatives are and always have been for the rich, and YOU poor slobs working to get by and just existing is exactly what they want you to do as in work until you drop while they get wealthy on YOUR backs !
Sure bust the unions and bring us all back to the slave wage and no benefits , forget about a pension.
What so many do not realize and have been listening to the rich mans rhetoric about those big bad unions that prevent them from dishing out crap wages and treating people like dirt.
What goes around , comes around.
There is a list of broken promises on the internet (50+) of Dalton’s broken promises. It basically reads that he started with broken promises and continues a legacy of broken promises. Then to see these commercials (False Advertising) saying that he is the best thing for Ontario when he broke all the promises and doubled the debt. promised to balance the budget, reduce taxes and so on on on. At what point do you “release” the used car salesmen is taking you for GRANTED. It’s like you buy the car and then he tells you there is an extra $5000 to cover additional costs. Problem is you don;t have that much. The word has changed.. the old political values don’t seem to work at the moment. You don’t vote on the lie and “believe” it will work. It never did. The liberals have done some good in the past. No one does all bad but the performance record is BROKEN. Dalton had the image but not the WORD. Tne WORD has been broken XXXX Times over.
Everyone should look at the way of life now, as compared to 30 years ago..a thriving middle class, jobs, benefits young people and families don’t have that now. Stop blaming the worker just because he has a union or a better pay job, we must open our eyes and face the fact that corporations and the government are not interested in our quality of life, the minimun wage and no benefits, unversity and college graduated students without jobs or low paying jobs with no benefits? it sounds like a 3rd world country or the begining of it? we need well paid jobs and benefits for the average canadian to have a thriving community and country.