By Randall Denley, Ottawa Citizen, March 15, 2018
New Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford is looking for a short and simple platform to carry his party to victory in the June provincial election. That’s just the right approach.
In recent years, political parties have typically opted for a catalogue of promises in an attempt to give something to every interest group and demographic. At some point, it just gets silly. Under former leader Patrick Brown, the PCs were promising to spend up to $19 million a year to subsidize snow tire buyers.
That platform is headed for the shredder, along with its 42 tax and spending promises. Ford says he wants to start from scratch, but he’d be a lot wiser to stick with the four best promises from the Patrick Brown plan. They are easily affordable, even without a carbon tax.
The platform will obviously include Ford’s clearest policy, that there will be no provincially imposed carbon tax. Sounds simple, but the PCs will need to explain the consequences of eliminating the Liberals’ complex cap-and-trade system.
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/denley-doug-ford-needs-an-election-platform-heres-one