Local campaign slowly getting underway; and what is Hudak up to?

Jeff Green | May 15, 2014

While local election campaigns have been slow to ramp up, Kathleen Wynne and Tim Hudak have already set up a polarizing debate that each hopes will lead to their own success.

Wynne went first. She put out a left-leaning budget, fully expecting to campaign on it, and then began the campaign by scuffling with the federal government over her proposed pension plan.

Her plan is to establish herself as the one politician standing in the way of Conservative governments in both Toronto and Ottawa, an attempt not only to tie Tim Hudak to Stephen Harper, but also to wrestle votes from the NDP. It is only a matter of time before she begins saying that Ontarians who vote NDP will only be helping Tim Hudak win the election.

What did Hudak do? He decided to play Wynne's game, in spades. In what will likely be the one key manoeuvre in the campaign, he aligned himself not only with the Federal Tories but with the much maligned Michael Harris record in Ontario, by announcing he plans to cut 100,000 civil servants, mostly from the education sector, in his first two years of office.

The move is risky; he might have won the campaign by continuing to attack the Liberal record and offering small c platitudes about fiscal responsibility. If this job cuts promise works for him, however, he will have won the campaign on his own terms and will be leading a new Hudak revolution in Queen's Park.

If it fails, and anything short of a majority for the Conservatives will be a failure, it will be seen as a colossal blunder, not on the scale of the Pierre Karl Peladeau disaster for the PQ in Quebec last month, but devastating nonetheless

Notes on the local campaign – There was some fallout from the editorial in last week's Frontenac News, “Is there a Conservative candidate in LFL&A?” Some readers wondered whether MPP Hillier was running as an independent this time around. He is not. Randy Hillier remains in the Conservative Party Caucus and was present at the Conservative Party campaign launch two weeks ago

As to my claim that by being on the outs with party leader Hudak he would have no chance of serving in cabinet should the Conservatives form a government, Randy Hillier said, “That is not a given, by any means. A lot of factors go into making up a cabinet. There are geographic and other factors, the size of the caucus, whether the government is a minority or a majority - a lot can happen.”

Hillier also said that the assertion that his standing in his party makes him vulnerable to the charge that he can only oppose and not propose is off the mark because he put forward more motions and private member's bills than any other MPP over the last two and a half years of Liberal minority rule.

The Frontenac News will be holding all-candidates meetings for the Lanark Frontenac Lennox and Addington riding. The first is set for the Kennebec Hall in Arden at 7:00 pm on Monday, May 26. It is co-sponsored by the Friends of Arden. The second is on Monday, June 2, 7pm at the Lions Hall on Sand Road in Verona. It is co-sponsored by the Verona Lions Club.

All registered candidates are invited. We have invited Conservative Party candidate Randy Hillier, Green Party candidate Cam Mather, Liberal Party candidate Bill MacDonald, and NDP candidate Dave Parkhill. According to the Elections Ontario website, as of Tuesday, May 13 only Dave Parkhill and Bill McDonald are officially registered. Cam Mather and Randy Hillier have been named by their parties and appear on their respective party websites as candidates in this riding. They can register as late as next Thursday, May 22, 21 days before voting day. We know of no other candidates who are intending to run.