It’s over
A hectic four weeks of election coverage are over! It culminated with our joint broadcast last night on 570News and Rogers Television.
It was a fun night for the 570 news crew, getting the results and watching the night unfold. We had reporters at all the local riding hot spots as well as analysis and results.
By far the biggest story out of the night was John Tory’s loss to Kathleen Wynne in Don Valley West. Wynne spent her last term as Education Minister. Education became a hot button issue early in the campaign when Tory announced he would fund faith based schools if elected. He later back-peddled on that, saying he would let Ontarian’s vote on the issue.
I think it was that issue that cost Tory the election. It was not on radar of many voters, but by taking such a controversial stand on the issue, he made it one. By doing that, the heat was taken off McGuinty.
Right after Tory lost his riding, one of the political analysts on our broadcasts’ panel suggested the Conservatives would have to find a new leader if they were to win the next election. He argued that even if Tory ignored the issue in a future campaign, the media would bring it up and it would still dog him.
However, Dean of Arts and Political Science professor David Docherty with Wilfrid Laurier University says the PC party should keep Tory as leader. I suppose you could argue the public has short memory and overall Tory wouldn’t make a bad premier.
If they do decide to keep him, I think they should take a look at their campaign advisors. The American-style attack ads didn’t help and they should never have brought a new issue into the mix. They would have been better off letting McGuinty spend four weeks defending the health care premium.
I thought whoever was running McGuinty’s campaign was a genius. Right after Tory made faith-based schools an issue, that commercial came out with McGuinty saying “You know what I like about Ontario public schools? They’re public!” There was no mention of Tory, no negative words spoken. Just him praising teachers and encouraging equality. He had a friendly smile on his face and as mad as I was about having to pay the health care premium, I couldn’t help but look at that ad and think: “Ya, I’d have a beer with that guy.”
Instead of going on the attack McGuinty just sat back and watched Tory sink. Well played.
Kate