Ontario election has been the nastiest, strangest ever
The lowest point of the most noxious, strangest and dramatic Ontario election in generations came on a warm Monday night in mid-May in Niagara Falls.
During a packed rally for Doug Ford, a supporter yelled out “Lock Her Up” as the Conservative leader fired up the crowd by accusing Premier Kathleen Wynne of screwing up the energy file.
Instead of telling the loudmouth to cool it, Ford laughed. Emboldened by Ford’s response, the angry supporter chanted “Lock Her Up” again, and Ford continued to smile. It wasn’t until a day later that Ford, criticized by opponents of encouraging hatred toward Wynne similar to the attacks by Donald Trump on Hillary Clinton, distanced himself from the slogan, saying he doesn’t condone such speech.
Similar low points were common in what is the ugliest election I have ever seen in Canada, not just in Ontario. All three major parties are guilty, although not equally, of contributing to dragging the democratic process and political civility through the mud to this brutish finish.
After a winner is declared Thursday, all parties should take a hard look at their campaign behaviour. They should also study how to improve the quality of debate and discourse, show more respect for truth and integrity and how to foster more decency toward voters and opponents alike.
For the Tories, this election took its first dramatic turn on Jan. 24 when Patrick Brown resigned as leader after CTV reported two women were accusing him of sexual misconduct. Brown has denied the charges and is seeking more than $8 million in damages from CTV. In the days after Brown quit, interim leader Vic Fedeli spoke of “rot” throughout the party.
Then came Ford’s leadership victory, courtesy of the most baffling voting rules imaginable by which Christine Elliott won the most votes and the most ridings, but lost the race. By the end of the campaign, Ford was facing allegations of vote-buying after being secretly taped telling coffee-shop patrons they do not have to pay for Tory memberships, a violation of party rules. Ford was helping Etobicoke Centre PC candidate Kinga Surma.
He was also dealing with the political bombshell over the $16.5-million lawsuit filed last Friday by Renata Ford, his late brother Rob’s widow, who accuses him of mismanaging the family business and the estate of Ford’s late father. Ford has denied the allegations.
Other affronts to democracy included Ford’s refusal to unveil a fully costed platform as he promised and his handling of his own Conservative candidates and the media. Tory candidates were barred from talking to reporters or participating in public debates without first clearing them with the Ford headquarters. Most requests were denied. Ford also refused virtually all interview requests.
Though all is relative, Horwath was no saint either, often branding Wynne’s government as “corrupt” during the run-up to the official campaign. She has also remained relatively quiet regarding NDP candidates who disparaged poppies and placed a Hitler meme on a Facebook page.
Wynne also shook voters’ faith in the democratic process when she threw in the towel five days before voting day, conceding she wouldn’t be re-elected as premier and basically telling individual Liberal candidates they were on their own.
Overall, Wynne acquitted herself best in terms of being the most elegant candidate and the best versed in policies. But millions of U.S. voters said the same about Clinton, and she lost, too.
Once the election is over, a first step to improving our elections would be to appoint an all-party legislative committee tasked with recommending practical and sensible guidelines on civility and personal conduct. Clearly this would be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce. But working together might encourage politicians to behave in a way that restores a sense of decency to our campaigns.
I don’t hold out much hope for the parties to agree to such a committee. But given how this election has played out, Ontario voters can expect to see future campaigns slither deeper in the swamp of abuse, anger, hatred and bigotry that now is a trademark of American elections, as witnessed by the Trump campaign in 2016.