The thing is, political attacks are supposed to make life harder for your opponents, not easier. Maybe someone should tell the Ontario Liberals?
This past weekend, the partys Twitter account reminded voters that Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown had been an occasional guest on The Rebel, the far-right website currently embroiled in infighting and recriminations but once known primarily for its rancid Islamophobia, which included suggesting the murders of six men at a Quebec City mosque earlier this year were faked.
Plenty of conservatives have abandoned or disavowed The Rebel since one of its contributors appeared on a far-right white supremacist podcast, and someone at Liberal HQ was either bored on a Saturday or thought itd be worth trying to tie Brown to them.
So yes, Brown appeared on The Rebel, most recently more than a year ago to talk about the Liberal partys fundraising scandal funny, the topic of discussion didnt fit into all those tweets that was so tawdry and indefensible the Liberals were shamed into changing provincial election law. Thats on the public record, and voters are totally within their rights to consider that information and its context when they go to the ballot box next year.
But anyone familiar with relations between Brown and The Rebel over the past year knows things have soured badly and seem unlikely to recover. The website has chastised Brown for being a fake conservative whos gone full Trudeau in advocating a revenue-neutral carbon tax to replace the Liberals cap-and-trade system. Rebel contributors have also made dark insinuations about Muslims infiltrating PC nomination races under Browns watch.
No wonder, then, that Brown was able to easily clear the low bar the Liberals had set for him, tweeting, I deplore intolerance of any kind and in any place, including Rebel. That's why they thoroughly detest me!
The whole point of the make X disavow Y play is to put your enemy between a rock and a hard place. The Liberals put Brown between a pillow and meringue.
All this would be a silly diversion, except for the missed opportunity it represents. Brown has a better chance of being Ontarios next premier than the last three PC leaders did, and hes managed to get there without offering much in the way of serious policy.
There was a welcome exception to that last week in Ottawa, where Brown told the Association of Municipalities of Ontario that, should his party form the next government, it would reform the provinces legal liability rules. Mayors and councils have complained for years that, when it comes to doling out damages, courts treat municipal taxpayers like bottomless wallets. Brown promised a Tory government would change the rules to save money, lower insurance premiums for municipalities, and avoid tax increases.
It sounds neat and tidy, but it isnt: theres still the basic question of who should pay for court-ordered damages, which are calculated based on real harms to real people. Courts struggle to put dollar figures on peoples lives especially lives thatve been irreparably damaged. The biggest payouts are often for young people whove been paralyzed or otherwise disabled in car accidents. How much to award a 17-year-old whos going to need 60 or 70 years of care?
Municipalities probably arent the best suited to bear such damages, but theres also no free lunch: either some other level of government takes the hit, or the province caps the amount of money courts can recover from city councils which would save taxpayers money at the risk of injured people going without.
Its a difficult and multifaceted policy issue that deserves a serious, detailed answer. So far, the Tories have promised wide-ranging consultations and that whatever solution they land on will save money. And thats it.
At this point, the governing party (with one eye on next years polls) would be expected to point out the empty shell of a policy the Leader of the Opposition is trying to get away with, and then lambaste him for being unprepared to lead This Great Province.
Except, whoops, the Liberals also promised to address liability rules once upon a time (2014), and then broke that promise, making them a less than perfect messenger for such an attack.
Patrick Brown, like any other leader of a major political party that could form Ontarios next government, needs to be seriously challenged before the next election. Cute games on Twitter arent going to cut it.
See the article here:
Patrick Brown deserves tough questions. Why did the Liberals give him such an easy one? - TVO