In Canadian political campaigns local candidates usually can be relied upon to knock on doors, hand out party approved pamphlets and toe the party line. But sometimes a candidate will do or say something that knocks the party agenda for a loop. That happened this morning. It came out overnight that some of the Ford supporters outside the debate TV studio last night were paid to be there. That’s right. Doug Ford, the Progressive Conservative Leader, is the one leader who prides himself on getting hundreds out to rallies night after night. Today, he was asked why he had paid “walk on” actors to waive his signs.
Ford told reporters this morning he wasn’t aware of it saying, “That’s the first I’ve heard of it.” Minutes later the Progressive Conservatives sent out a tweet admitting it was all too true. The tweet said, “Doug Ford has attracted record crowds since entering the race for PC Leader. This has become even stronger since winning the leadership. A local candidate made a decision to engage a casting agency. This was unnecessary and a mistake. It will not happen again.”
Turns out the local candidate is Meredith Cartwright running for the PCs in Toronto Centre. The two sentence profile on her PC webpage says Cartwright is “a human right lawyer, business woman and philanthropist.” By the way, Cartwright was one of 11 candidates Ford hand-picked and appointed to run without going through the nomination process.
Deb Mathews, the Liberal Party campaign co-chair, told CP24 this afternoon that everything about the Ford campaign is “fake.” She said the PCs are “using fake news reporters, using their own set of fake facts so we shouldn’t be surprised at fake supporters.”
Ford’s campaign promise this morning focused on education issues. Ford called for a change in how math is taught in Ontario saying math education should go “back to the basics.” The Liberals challenged his numbers and ended by saying, “he will subtract teachers from Ontario classrooms.”
He also promised to scrap the sex-education curriculum introduced by the Liberal Party. He insisted the policy was put in place without consulting the views of parents in Ontario. Ford said parents were “ignored and that is wrong.” The Liberals were quick to dispute the charge that there had been no consultation with parents. Deb Mathews insisted that there was more parental consultation on the sex-education curriculum than on any other education issue ever.
Ford’s statement on the sex-education issue comes a day after his former candidate in Mississauga Centre Tanya Granic Allen said in a statement, “Doug Ford made commitments to me and the party, that it was not enough to review the Wynne sex-ed, but it must be repealed and replaced, and parents can opt-out. I’m watching the first leader’s debate tonight to see if Doug Ford will make a re-commitment to repealing and replacing Wynne’s sex-ed.” It didn’t happen last night but today Ford made that commitment.
Granic Allen ran for leader of the PCs and threw her support to Ford. In yesterday’s statement Granic Allen reminded voters that her supporters helped Ford to win saying, “It was my votes, mainly comprised of social conservatives, which crowned Doug as leader.”
Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne delivered a speech in the Legislature this morning. One Liberal strategist said it was another attempt to put her record to the people of Ontario. Selling the record will be Wynne’s challenge for the next month. Today I was struck by the questions from reporters after the speech. Question after question made it feel like Wynne was leaving politics. How the Liberals frame her as the leader Ontario needs going forward will be fascinating to watch.
Andrea Horwath had a big smile on her face this morning. She came off much more relaxed after a strong debate and polls that give the NDP hope. She was quick to dismiss Ford’s call to scrap sex-education making it personal by reminding voters that the sex-education curriculum was out of date and hadn’t changed since her 25-year-old son was in school. During the debate, Horwath was the best candidate to take the time to connect with the questioner. New Democrats insist that is one of Horwath’s strengths. But it will be important for voters to see her rapport with them as they weigh their decision on who to support.
Day one of the formal campaign has Horwath in the GTA. She will stop in at CP24 for an interview in the noon hour. Wynne starts her day in Etobicoke and then in Scarborough before flying to Ottawa for an evening rally with what the Liberals are calling “Team Ottawa.” Ford has a morning announcement at an airport hotel before flying to Ottawa and then driving up the road for an evening rally in Renfrew. The Green Party will launch its campaign in Toronto in the morning. Leader Mike Schreiner will be at CP24 for an interview right after the launch.
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George Hoff, CP24’s Ontario Election Producer, shares his personal observations of the day on the campaign trail. These opinions and observations are those of Mr. Hoff alone and do not reflect the opinions or views of CP24, Bell Media or any of its news properties, employees or management.
