Negative 3rd party ads didn't buy an election

In today's Toronto Sun, John Snobelen writes:

But the Working Families ads go beyond the normal limits. The nasty (why are teacher unions, of all people, always so nasty?) ads we all endured during this election were not intended to make a point or raise a policy. They were designed to kneecap Hudak. The unions did the heavy lifting for the Liberals during the campaign.

I'll say it one more time. Hudak's campaign managers *kneecapped* Hudak.

Blame unions, 3rd party spending, blame all you want. Hudak deserved to lose that election because he never said what he would do differently or how he would do it. If people are going to vote for *change* they want to see plans, not platitudes. We didn't get that. We got vitriolic ads from the PC campaign, we got promises to keep some of the most contentious, expensive, stupid Liberal programs (all day kindergarten) and not much else.

I'd love to say the union ads pushed Hudak over the edge because I think their form of propoganda is wrong . . . but Hudak crashed and burned all on his own. If the ads had been effective at all, I think we'd have seen a Liberal majority.

So long as conservatives look outside their ranks for people and things to blame for this major disappointment, they will never find a positive way to move forward . . . the best defence is not always a good offence . . . sometimes, it's just having a plan and executing it. The PC Party had a plan, or so they said. They failed to execute. Their fault. Now . . . pick up what's left and move on.

canadianna

Undecided

Four days to the vote, and I remain undecided . . . not about which party to vote for, but rather, whether to vote at all.

The PC Party of Ontario had an opportunity here to live up to their *Changebook* and blow the stale and bloated Liberal government out of the water. Instead, I haven't even heard the word *Changebook* since maybe May or June? You pick up a few bits and pieces in the news over the weeks, like the fact that the PCs are prepared to maintain the status quo on many of the Liberal promises and screw ups. I'd have loved to hear something of the change that book might have planned . . . but I'm busy . . . I'm not interested in having to search out their agenda . . . this is election time . . . they should have told me. They haven't.

The Howarth ads are positive and engaging . . . appealing even to those of us have no inclination to vote for the NDP. There still hasn't been one positive, affirming PC ad. They're sticking with the anti-McGuinty ads . . . which are so off-putting that the Liberals don't seem to be bothering with ads at all anymore. Just watch the PC Party do the nasty, and the Liberals can sit back and know that the PC party operatives have failed in every possible way. They might have convinced many voters not to vote for Dalton, but they've done absolutely nothing to convince us to vote for them.

There are a number of things that might have lured me to the voting booth . . . cancelling all-day kindergarten, or if that's too radical, repealing the Health Care Premium. They could've told us their plan for newcomers to Ontario, rather than screaming about the ill-conceived Liberal one. What are their plans for post-secondary students? How do they intend to create jobs? What will they do about the Samsung deal?

The PC Party is hoping that we'd hate Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals enough to vote for them by default. That isn't the way it works. People might not like the status quo, but many are content to accept the devil they know . . . and those who'd rather vote for change will look for it somewhere positive, especially in these low economic times.

I see a pretty big increase for the NDP this Thursday. If voters are going to choose change because they hate the party in power, many might see Horwath as the only option available in the absence of anything positive from Hudak.

Sad really. This was his to win.

canadianna

The Ontario PC's failure

Truth is, the Ontario PC Party failed me out of the gate when they said they'd continue to implement the universal daycare plan disguised as *all day kindergarten* -- and pay teacher's wages for the daycare worker's job.

That said, I was still hoping to be persuaded to vote in the upcoming election. I won't be voting Liberal, but unless I find a reason to wander over to the polls on October 6, I won't be voting. And yes, I will still have the right to complain. I'm a citizen who finds the sitting government contemptible, but who is being offered no viable and reasonable alternative.

Just saw the taxman ad again. It was funny the first time --- *sneaky eco-tax* and all that . . . but seriously . . . does Tim Hudak know there's an election going on?

The PCs are still invisible.

Even when I'm looking, all I'm finding is them ragging about Dalton the taxman -- much as I hate what Dalton McGuinty has done -- people still elected him a second time after he'd done most of what he's done wrong. Obviously Ontarians don't mind being taxed. Move on. Tell me what you'd do different . . . what you'd do better . . . for goodness sake! Tell me anything about yourselves.

Why vote PC? I'm still asking... so are a lot people (who haven't fallen asleep with the tedium of this campaign). Those who don't find an answer will likely just stay home. If Dalton wins again, it won't be our fault . . . it will be the fault of the geniuses in the PC Party who've failed to even try to engage us.

I'm asking . . . I want a reason to vote for you, Tim . . . not a reason to vote AGAINST Dalton.

Come on Hudak war room -- you still have time.

canadianna

I tried, but I can't help it . . .

Everyone says to ignore Warren Kinsella, but it's like trying to ignore a mosquito. I both appreciate and despise THE SUN for giving him a voice.

Doesn't Kinsella know that there's a difference between a newspaper owner issuing a vendetta against a sitting PM and promising to destroy him electorally, and columnists in a newspaper expressing opinion on the poor governance of the sitting premier?

Who knows what made people keep voting for Chretien ... maybe it was The Star which still seemed vaguely relevant back then, when they kept insisting there was no alternative to the Liberals and that the Liberals had a natural right to govern. Hmmm . . . The Star endorsed the Liberals, they won. They endorsed the NDP and look what happened. ... just kidding. Anyway, get weirdly gleeful all you want that some smart person says editorials don't matter, but one has to hope that in the end, the huge tax burden being faced by voters thanks to Dalton McGuinty-- will matter -- even to those who don't bother reading newspapers.

I think it's probable that while Conrad Black's anger at Chretien's pettiness didn't translate into election defeat, it's hardly because of voter backlash against the National Post . . .instead it likely had more to do with the mocking of the fundamentalist Christian leader of the Canadian Alliance by a cynical spin doctor. The ridicule created a sense that the leader of this new and unproven party might be stupid. Truth never mattered. It was all about spin and the clever way those spin masters demean their targets. Funny how Warren is forgetting his role in the Alliance defeat now that it's inconvenient to his column thesis.

Anyway, I really wrote this piece to say: The idea of Warren Kinsella getting all *tingly* over anything -- is really creepy and made me cringe.

Yuck Warren. Just yuck.

canadianna

Where is the Ontario P. C. Party?

Why vote P.C. ?

Seriously? Does anyone know?

On Thursday, Christina Blizzard said exactly what I've been thinking. How exactly do Tim Hudak and the rest of the invisible Progressive Conservatives, differ from the status quo? Besides standing right along side Dalton, where does the P.C. Party stand?

If I want all-day kindergarten, I just won't bother to vote . . . why would I? I'm not voting NDP, that's just a given. And I won't be voting Liberal given that they never promised all-day kindergarten, a health premium, the HST, the eco-tax and yet now we have them -- costing us billions. But why do the P.C.s deserve my vote if they're keeping almost all of the stupid that Dalton decided was good for us?

Fact is, despite not being brave enough to ditch much of the garbage the Liberals have dumped on Ontario, the P.C.s have some okay ideas. For example The Home Energy section of the P.C. website was really informative --- I didn't know the debt being paid by the Debt Retirement Charge on your hydro bill had been paid off, but that the Liberals extended the fee for another 8 years anyway -- and because I didn't know that, I didn't know that the P.C.s would be removing that from our hydro bills ---- but I shouldn't have to go the website to find it out.

Message to Tim Hudak and . . . whoever else might be out there for the Conservatives: If you want my vote, work for it! Show me what you've got and don't make me me seek out the good things you plan to do. Most of the time I'm just too lazy -- and this is coming from someone who is actually interested in politics. The average voter hasn't heard a thing you have to say . . . that is, if you've said anything at all --- because besides yapping something about *foreign workers* I don't recall hearing you.

Oh, and if you wanted me to vote for you because the Liberals are promising something stupid ($10k for hiring immigrants) then instead of saying how asinine *they* are, I'd have rather heard your plan. Instead, I just heard *gotcha!* and tuned you out. Whoever has been doing your spinning, has just been spinning their wheels.

Sorry to be so negative, but hey . . . if you want positive reviews, do something to earn them.

canadianna

What do these three pictures have in common?

Three election ads ... three different MPPs ... not one mention of their party. If you didn't already know, you might not know these MPPs are Liberals (okay, the red is a clue, but I've never seen election advertising without a party logo etc.)

Hmmm . . . scared of their own brand maybe? If the provincial Liberals were at all certain of their own record, the national party's crash in May wouldn't affect their advertising (that is if the national disaster is their reasoning for the conspicuous absence of the Liberal name and logo).

Also of note, all of the supporting data for the *good news* they're touting, is from the Ministries involved in providing those services. No independent sources available?

Not to mention Andy's mom is selling him short --- if he's only one in a million to her, there's gotta be 11 just like him in Ontario alone. Just sayin'.

The ads are kinda cute, kinda clever, but absent the party name, they're telling us more than what they intended.

canadianna

btw -- Sorry for the poor quality of the first photo -- my passenger took it with my cell phone. I haven't the name of that MP, it isn't clear enough and I can't be bothered looking it up, but it was taken at McCowan and Sandhurst Circle in Scarborough.