Some Free Friendly Advice For Tim Hudak

Hey Tim. How are you? It's been a rough couple of days given the mathematical errors in the million jobs plan. Now I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is I think you are sitting at a solid 33%-35% of decided voters. The bad news is that isn't enough to win you the election. Of the 3 big parties, your party is the only party that actually would give Ontario hope moving into the future. Getting the job numbers wrong is a big mistake. It's what you do moving forward that will ensure that, to quote a famous Monty Python skit, 'it's only a flesh wound.

 The million jobs plan has received media airplay since day 1. Despite the errors, it still is a great plan. Now absolutely keep mentioning it. But it's time to start focusing on the pocketbook issues. A million jobs is a great promise. Unfortunately promises made by politicians no longer carry much weight with the public, especially in Ontario where Dalton McGuinty broke pretty much every promise he made. So here's where I would focus my efforts for the next few weeks.

• Electricity costs. This will win you the election. Hammer home the moratorium on green energy you will put in place to stop Wynne's upcoming electricity increase.
• At the same time remind voters of companies like Magna who have publicly stated there will be no new jobs nor investment due to electricity costs.
• Every day, in whichever city or town you are in, whenever the news cameras are on you, mention you will cancel Drive Clean if elected. The response from this at the doors is 100% positive.
• Healthcare. Point out the fact the McGuinty/Wynne Liberals are the champions of health care cuts. Delisting eye exams, chiropractic, physio. 
• Mention the outrage that a government handing out contracts to Liberal insiders worth $66,000 per day refuse to pay $60,000 for medication that would help Madi Vanstone for 1 year.
• Mention cutbacks in cleaning in hospitals, as they try to balance their budgets due to bloated hospital boards.
• Mention OPG as an example of incompetence and the reason for high energy costs. OPG has reduced manpower 8.5% and increased management 60%
• Remind voters that roughly 10 cents per liter of gas is directly from Liberals adding hst to the price of gas.  

These are just a handful of things to use during the campaign. The campaign had great momentum at the start, much the result of getting a different message or policy out every day. Return to that, switching between the points made above, and any you feel can help. As for those errors in the jobs plan, it's important to reaffirm to voters that the plan can work. Here are a few things worthy of mention.

• A leader of a party desperate to win an election by attacking her opponent rather than campaigning on her own governments record should be enough to convince voters it's time for change.
• The original release of the million jobs plan stated the figures were conservative.
• The Ontario economy has averaged 85,000 jobs created since 1977. Using that average for 8 years you get 680,000. The jobs plan listed 523,000, which looks to be, yes, a conservative estimate
• Despite the conflict with the CBoC report, the report does still confirm job creation and economic growth resulting from both personal and corporate income tax cuts.
• The number of jobs (4400) from developing the Ring of Fire is lower than estimates from both the Liberals and NDP.
• The McGuinty/Wynne Liberals have been wrong with their budget estimates and job numbers every year since taking office.
• If spending money creates jobs, how is it the McGuinty/Wynne Liberals have increased the provinces debt by close to $160 billion, while at the same time Ontario lags behind the rest of Canada in job growth?
• Under Mike Harris Ontario created 1,175,00 (h/t Sandy:0) jobs in 8 years, some of the best growth ever seen not just in Ontario, but in the entire country through history.

The chart below really validates which party and which parties policies are best for the people of Ontario. Given the history of both the Harris years and the McGuinty/Wynne years, there really is nothing to think about. 

So Tim, feel free to call me, email me, send me a tweet. This election is winnable, it's just a matter of the right campaign using the right strategy.

Email: paulsblues45@hotmail.com

on twitter: @PaulinAjax