Attack ads and campaign-style promises: The unofficial 2022 election campaign has begun in Ontario
The unofficial election campaign seems to be underway in Ontario as political parties launch attack ads, reveal policy platforms and unveil themes that could shape the ballot box question in 2022.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford planted the seeds of his party’s election message during a campaign-style stop in Milton, Ont. on Thursday, contrasting his government’s focus on a post-pandemic future, with the former Liberal government’s 15 years in office.
"Folks, next June, you’re going to decide, do you want the province to move forward and we'll keep governing, or do you want it to go back the way it was for 15 years that destroyed our province," Ford said during a government announcement.
“I can tell you, we want to move forward,” Ford said.
Behind the scenes, the Progressive Conservatives have tapped three members of caucus – Paul Calandra, Kinga Surma and Rod Phillips -- to write the 2022 PC party platform.
The trio will harmonize formal policy advice from PC party members, commitments made during the last three years and promises made by individual Progressive Conservative MPPs to create a costed platform before the writ is issued next spring.
But the governing party isn’t alone in its pre-election push. On Thursday, the Ontario NDP released its first attack advertisement hitting at both Ford and Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca in an election-style commercial called “big cuts, bad choices.”
The ad begins with a picture of Ford with a female voiceover saying “he’s gotta go” before quickly transitioning to video of Del Duca sitting silently as he waits for a Zoom news conference to begin.
“This guy, thinks the job belongs to him,” the voiceover says of Del Duca.
The ad portrays Del Duca as the “right-hand man” to former Premier Kathleen Wynne in an attempt to cash in on Wynne’s low approval numbers prior to the 2018 election.
NDP Campaign Director Michael Balagus said the advertisement aims to introduce the Liberal leader “who is largely unknown” to Ontario voters.
The campaign has also released a series of “positive” and “hopeful” ads of NDP Leader Andrea Horwath presenting her vision for the province from investments in health care and education – signalling the party’s pitch to voters will include billions in new spending.
The Liberals, meanwhile, have largely been focused on a virtual campaign allowing Del Duca to reach out to party supporters, hold news conferences and to discuss campaign platform promises, all from a home-based studio in Vaughan.
The party announced an education recovery plan on Thursday, that would lower all class sizes to 20 students per educator, hire new mental health and special education workers, and offer financial assistance for children to go to summer camp.
While Del Duca has been critical of the government performance during the pandemic, he often sprinkles in the phrase “if I were premier today,” in an effort to offer alternative policy solutions to current pandemic issues.
The party is preparing to take that message on the road with the first in-person, door-to-door campaign since Del Duca was elected leader in March 2020.
Candidates and volunteers have been given training manuals on how best to interact with voters after Canada Day, marking the unofficial kick-off to the next provincial vote.
The election is scheduled for June 2, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
7 surveillance videos linked to extortions of South Asian home builders in Edmonton released
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'