It’s Doug Ford’s Ontario now, and voters aren’t hungry for change. If 2018 was a “change” election, 2022 looks more like a re-election unless something changes soon. Opinion by reggcohn
The advance team sweeps into place at a professional pace, setting up lights and mics at the outdoor podium.An OPP protective cordon takes up position, scouting for potential threats — assuming anyone could recognize the target.The Liberal leader’s tour pulls up precisely on schedule. But there is no traditional campaign bus lumbering across the parking lot, merely a modest van with a bodyguard riding shotgun.
Ford is repeating that routine in 2022. Coasting on his front-runner status, he is running a peek-a-boo campaign that relies on YouTube appearances while reading from a Teleprompter before taking a handful of questions — and then, “No more questions.”Now Del Duca is getting in on the act, albeit for different reasons. With the media contingent shrinking, and the cash-strapped Liberals unable to bankroll the traditional bells and whistles, he too is flying solo .
And so it goes with the hybrid democracy of the day — in person and online, but with precious few voters tuning in. Even the questions have become captive of the virtual world, with Del Duca on this day having to answer for past social media indiscretions and transgressions by candidates who were vetted but not vetoed — turning off yet more voters.
Not friction, not emotion, not passion, not pathos. It’s not because the campaign tours have changed, just that the mood of the electorate has altered — and the appetite for change that animated the last election has dissipated.
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