Today's Strategy Advice To Make Tim Hudak Premier of Ontario

 First off, Tim Hudak deserves credit. he has improved every day so far on the campaign trail and shows his conviction by announcing public sector job cuts, something he knows the opposition will use to attack him. And for some reason Kathleen Wynne seems more focused on Stephen Harper than Hudak or NDP leader Andrea Horwath. Of course anyone even remotely aware of politics knows this is meant as nothing more than deflection from her record as Premier of Ontario and the horrendous financial situation this province finds itself in after 11 years of her Liberal party in power.

 Now we all know how hard it is to win an election with promises of spending and employment cuts to the public sector. And Liberals are always quick to bring up Mike Harris to demonize Hudak. The thing is Harris record as premier is head and shoulders better than McGuinty/Wynne. So with Wynne bringing PM Harper into the election and resurrecting the Harris years, even though he hasn't been in power for 13 years, it's urgent for Hudak to get Ontario voters to accept the fact cuts are needed, and tough love now pays off with rewards down the road. But how?

 The answer? Former Liberal PM Jean Chretien and former federal finance minister Paul Martin. While most Conservative voters hold both Chretien and Martin in high disdain, the fact is their record on cutting spending and laying off thousands of federal public sector workers to balance the budget is grudgingly admired. So here is what Hudak needs to do. Whenever asked about cuts, point out Chretien and Martin are widely praised for the way the slayed the federal deficit. And whenever doing so point out the reason it has become necessary to do the same thing in Ontario is a direct result of Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne. Did you catch that? Like I've stated before, always mention McGuinty and Wynne in the same sentence.

 This strategy serves a few purposes. If Wynne wants to attack the cuts proposed by Hudak, then she needs to explain why they were acceptable federally, particularly because Ontario took the brunt of $30 billion in transfer payment cuts by Chretien/Martin. Does Wynne dare question Chretien and Martins fiscal record? Will she diss the federal Liberal Party of current leader Justin Trudeau.? I doubt it. It also blunts the attacks on the Harris years. Hudak can rightly point out Ontario found itself in a similar disastrous fiscal cliff in 1995 when Bob Rae left an $11 billion deficit. He can also point out McGuinty/Wynne now have the province in an even deeper financial abyss, caused by out of control spending, out of control public sector hiring, and the huge loss to Ontario's manufacturing sectordue  to Liberal policies inncluding electricity costs and big increases in fees and more government bureaucracy.

 This strategy is just my opinion. Maybe I'm wrong. But conjuring up the two supposed iconic Liberal figures always mentioned as great fiscal managers seems to be a great way to make the necessary cuts palpable to more Ontario voters.

 Comments always welcome here or via email: paulsblues45@hotmail.com