A taxpayer-funded PR stunt?
LET’S BE HONEST ABOUT WHAT WYNNE’S ‘ TOWN HALLS’ REALLY ARE
Following in the footsteps of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier Kathleen Wynne has been roaming Ontario to “practice democracy” by letting everyday citizens voice their concerns directly to the leader of their government. Cynics could say a sitting leader doing a town-hall tour is little more than a taxpayer-funded PR stunt intended to change the channel on negative press and to curb slumping popularity.
They’re not wrong, mostly, but a politician answering to constituents, even the dissatisfied and disgruntled ones, is a breath of fresh air from the staid status quo of Canadian politics, where politicians typically only leave their cloistered bubble at the legislature to gladhand, fundraise, trumpet government projects and campaign. Of course it’s also true that for the deeply unpopular Wynne, these town halls are a thinly veiled excuse to do pre-election campaigning — on the taxpayer dime — in Liberal-held areas where seats are threatened ahead of this June’s election.
These events are never entirely as they appear. The town halls are billed as if Wynne is omniscient, willing and able to thoroughly answer everyone’s questions about anything. In reality, just a lucky handful of attendees get selected to ask questions, with no opportunity at rebuttals, and the answers given are usually unsatisfactory. Wynne often trots out typical talking points. Other times she defers attendees’ questions to the ministers in charge of the files, telling them they’ ll do followup. The vast majority of attendees leave without answers.
Then there’s the l ocations. Wynne’s first three town halls were held in the electoral districts of Univer- sity-Rosedale (a new district formed from parts of two other districts), Brampton Centre and Ottawa WestNepean. All are Liberal turf. Trudeau can still rely on his legion of young fans to show up in droves when he strategically visits schools. In contrast, Wynne’s town halls reflect the polls showing her approval ratings flatlining in the teens. Her first three town halls, while held on Liberal- friendly territory, have nevertheless been notable for pointed questions from disgruntled or disappointed Ontarians on such hot-button issues as rising hydro rates and housing costs, health- care deficiencies and provincial debt.
Wynne’s aides have come up with some clever ways, on top of strategic location choices, to try to protect the premier. First off, the town halls have only had seating for a few hundred attendees. This ensures the crowd doesn’t get too large and raucous ( or maybe Wynne isn’t much of a crowd draw). In contrast, Trudeau’s PMO picks l arger venues, l i ke gymnasiums full of people, and when a negative question or a heckler interrupts the PM he can rely on the majority of them to have his back.
Second, in the past, the location of Wynne’s townhall events have been announced only about a week or so before they happen — whereas Trudeau’s people released his entire schedule on Jan. 5. The promotion of the town halls are left mainly to Wynne’s social media accounts (i.e. targeting Liberal supporters) and a government website.
Finally, it’s interesting to note the preferential treatment given to some attendees at these events, even though these town halls are supposed to be non-partisan, official government events. They are certainly open to the general public ( limited space aside). However, my conversation with a couple of attendees at the Brampton event raises a possible red flag.
A curious sight at three recent town halls was that a couple dozen attendees wearing special coloured paper bracelets given only to them were sitting as a backdrop behind the premier and moderators. One of Wynne’s aides at the Brampton event asked Barbara Captijn — a consumer advocate critical of the province’s home warranty program — to fill an empty seat in this preferential seating area. Captijn says she was under the impression the other attendees sitting in the special seating area were associated with the Ontario Liberal Party and saw them escorted in by Wynne’s aides. She also noted that a girl and her father were moved by aides to several different spots in the backdrop area before the event started. Wynne would go on to choose the young girl to ask a question midway through the event, right after Captijn asked a pointed question, helping to lighten the mood and give the premier some relief from answering tough questions. Similar softball questions came from preferential seating areas in Ottawa and Toronto ( yellow bracelets that time), where some attendees had to watch in an overflow room, unable to get a seat in the smaller venue.
A friend of mine who at- tended the Brampton event said he went up to one of the white bracelet wearers at the end of the event and asked them how they got a bracelet. The bracelet wearer, uncomfortable with the question, walked off without answering. My friend then asked the moderator, who said they’re given to “local associations” and then passed him off to a Wynne staffer who wouldn’t elaborate on whether or not they were local Liberal riding associations. When I asked Wynne’s office about the people in bracelets, spokesperson Jennifer Beaudry replied via email that “The questions and attendees are not vetted in advance,” without directly speaking to the question. But after I asked, things changed at the Ottawa event: Now all attendees were given bracelets, except the ones in the backdrop had green ones while the rest of the crowd had white ones.
And coincidentally or not, after I asked Beaudry about why the town halls were announced with such short notice, the latest one — held last Wednesday in Thunder Bay, a city with two seats, both Liberal — was announced slightly further in advance: two weeks ahead of time. No more town halls have been announced, but Beaudry said the premier intends to continue holding them “across the province in each region ... As the Premier has said, it is important for people across the province to be able to participate in the democratic process and be able to question her on issues that matter most to them.” The commitment to democracy and voter accountability would be more convincing if those stops included ridings not predisposed to vote Liberal, with questions and questioners not picked out in advance. It would also look a lot less like political campaigning on the taxpayer’s dime.