Wynne unloads on Ford: ‘Canada’s Donald Trump’

He’ll say anything about anyone at any time because, just like Trump, it’s all about him.”

The ad campaign unveiled last week does not go quite so far, but purports to reveal “the real Doug Ford,” making debatable assertions that as premier he would “fire 40,000 people” and restrict access to abortion.

Meanwhile, the Liberals had to retract a tweet in which claimed Ford once said he “loves the blacks” — a phrase some would find offensive — when in fact it was a quote from Trump.

A senior Liberal campaign official was frank last week in explaining the attacks.

“Let’s be clear. We’re behind. Current trends, Doug Ford is going to be premier of a potential government leader wanting to imprison his opponent.

Ford didn’t exactly shy away from that line of attack Wednesday.

He accused Wynne of heading “the most politically corrupt government this country has ever seen,” though he offered no evidence, and Tory MPP Lisa MacLeod said the promised audit could uncover “fraud,” which would be referred to the courts.

Pollster Lorne Bozinoff says the unpopular Liberals had little choice but to attack Ford hard, especially after the government’s budget and its array of spending programs last month failed to improve party fortunes.

The “Ford-is-the-devil” gambit should play well with core Liberal and NDP supporters, said pollster Greg Lyle of Innovative Research Group. But not so much with what he calls the “struggling strivers” — people who believe anything is possible with hard work, but are not doing well currently and who partly blame the government.

Indeed, Ford’s attacks on Liberal fiscal management have more than a little foundation, given the party has racked up the largest debt of any non-national government in the world.

The Trump comparison also goes only so far. Ford has “played footsie” with social conservatives but hasn’t embraced them the way Trump has, said Lyle. In contrast to Trump’s nativist, anti-immigrant policies, the Tory leader welcomes ethnic minorities into his “Ford Nation” coalition.

It remains to be seen if the Liberal strategy will work. But events on Wednesday left little doubt about one thing, at least.

With the election still a month and a half away, “It’s crystal clear,” said Wynne, “that this is going to be a vicious campaign.”