With the surveys that suggest that the progressive conservative leader Doug Ford orders a strong advantage in the Ontario elections, the this night’s star debate could be one of the latest opportunities for opposition leaders to deflate part of that support.
On Friday afternoon, Ford, together with the leader of the NDP Marit Stiles, liberal leader Bonnie Crombie and the leader of the Green Party Mike Schreiner faced in North Bay, Ontario, where much of the approach of his first debate was related to The themes of the north.
The debate tonight, which takes place in Toronto only 10 days before the voters go to the polls, will be seen by a much broader audience, raising bets for the performance of each candidate.
This final debate of the campaign extends 6: 30-8 PM ET and will be moderated by David Common, the host of CBC Radio’s Metro tomorrow. People can also see the CBC-TV debate, transmit it online, get live updates or listen to CBC radio.
There will be no live audience and, unlike the debate in North Bay, the candidate can bring prepared notes.
CBC News spoke with political, observers and academic analysts about what each leader should do tonight:
Doug Ford
Ford unleashed the instant elections saying that he needed a new mandate to deal with the threatened tariffs of US President Donald Trump. And since then he has assumed a so -called “Captain Canada” mantle, becoming the unofficial defender not only of the province, but of the country. He has traveled to Washington and appeared in the US media to present the case against tariffs.
Surveys suggest that these actions seem to be paying politically. His work tonight, some analysts say, therefore, they should be to meet the relatively simple message that he has hit throughout the campaign, that only he as prime minister is the most appropriate to deal with Trump’s tariff threat.
“If I am the Prime Minister, I want to focus on the economy and President Trump,” said Adam Yahn, a partner of the Summa Strategies government relations firm, who has worked with several conservative politicians.
“Those are the areas that PCs are seen as the main part, the best positioned party to support and meet those issues“
In the last seven years of government, and during the campaign, Ford has been able to navigate without sticking much to him and should mainly ignore the criticisms that will be thrown during the debate tonight, Yahn said.
“Why even recognize what they are saying? Simply adhere to your lines and stay in your message,” he said.
Jaskararan Sandhu, political organizer and strategist of the state strategy, agrees that Ford should pay little attention to the other leaders and bring everything back to Trump and tariffs.
“I would literally say: ‘Ok, well, while these two fight for who is the opposition leader, I am here to talk about the most important struggle of how I am going to deal with with Trump“
Bonnie Crombie
For the liberal leader, who has tried to make the campaign more about medical care than rates, the debate is an opportunity to put that problem at the forefront, some analysts say.
“There is not much space for error,” said the liberal strategist Stevie O’Brien. “She needs … cut that noise and focus on medical care.”
The debate will give the former mayor of Mississauga, Ontario, the opportunity to hammer Ford with worrying statistics on the provincial medical care system, in particular the number of inhabitants of Ontarians without a family doctor, says O’Brien.
(About 2.5 million inhabitants of Ontario do not have access to a family doctor or regular access to any other primary care provider, such as a practical nurse, according to the Ontario Family Physicians College).
She has to “land those points” in the debate, O’Brien said.
Crombie must be on the offensive on medical care, but not be stumbled upon with his association with the Liberal Party of the past, says Andrea Lawlor, associate professor of Political Science at McMaster University in Hamilton.
“She has to do the careful dance of attacking medical care … but doing it in a way in which she does not take responsibility for the decisions taken by the previous [Liberal] Government and instead pointing out a completely different agenda, “he said.
However, Sandhu says that Crombie should not focus both on issues and medical care or affordable housing, and instead is presented as the vote of “Any person more than the PC.”
She should spend the entire debate “simply exploiting Ford,” he said. “I wouldn’t even involve NDP.”
Sandhu also says that Crombie needs to hammer Ford for calling an “unnecessary choice,” saying that he was irresponsible and asking if the inhabitants of Ontario should “reward someone who has plunged us into a winter election during a national crisis.”
Maritime
The PND leader needs to differentiate himself from Crombie and Liberals. But if you are looking to capitalize on the anti -Ford vote, recent surveys show that you are losing it to Crombie, says Peter Graefe, associate professor of Political Science in McMaster.
“She has to present the case that she is a defender of a certain social vision of the province,” he said.
Stiles needs to argue that Crombie really does not represent the social values of the Liberal Party, that she is just another Ford and that “if you want alternative support, you should choose another real one.” Graefe said.
Stiles would also benefit from making medical care a problem during the debate and should hit the PC and liberal records on this subject, says NDP Kim Wright’s strategist.
Wright says that Stiles had a “great row” in the previous debate, that the liberals “began the medicine of the hall and Doug Ford poured gasoline on it”, referring to the lack of beds in the hospitals, which forces patients to The halls and other rooms during the maximum demand. .
Tonight, “she needs to continue making such comparisons,” Wright said.
But despite her role as opposition leader, Stiles still suffers from lack of name recognition and the debate will be the time for her to “not only present the inhabitants of Ontario, but also make the hat that he is Ready to govern, “Wright said,” Wright said.
Mike Schreiner
The leader of the Green Party could be seen as a “luxurious position” as the fourth game candidate, Lawlor said.
“It’s a great opportunity for him really hitting Ford,” he said. “It can be balanced by fences here.”
Schreiner was aggressive against Ford in the first debate. But his party currently has only two seats in the Ontario Legislature and is linked to the problems of climate change and the environment when affordability and housing have dominated the campaign, says David Coetto, founder and CEO of Abacus Data.
“The challenge for Mike Schreiner and Verdes is to position itself as relevant in the debates,” he said.
Schreiner’s seat is probably sure, which means: “It has the opportunity to become a little more focus,” Lawlor said.
“Because the last thing I saw, the recognition of his name is still quite low.”
