Can Ontarios Liberals go from third to first in 2022?
Back in 1995 Mike Harris pulled off a rare third-to-first political feat by leading the Conservatives to victory just five years after the party finished a distant third in the previous Ontario election. Today, the Ontario Liberals and their leader Steven Del Duca are aiming to pull off the same third-to-first victory run in the next provincial election barely a year away. Its a daunting task, given the Liberals paltry eight seats in the legislature, their loss of official party status in the 2018 election that cost them millions of public dollars, Del Ducas low personal recognition level, and several discouraging recent polls that place the Liberals back in third place behind the Conservatives and NDP after leading both parties for months in earlier surveys. Still, as hard as it may be to imagine, it is possible for the Liberals to go from third to first  at least thats what Del Duca and his campaign team believe. With the June 2, 2022, election not that far off, the Liberals are gearing up for what they see as a real opportunity to defeat Doug Ford and the Conservatives. Indeed, they are in an upbeat mood as they watch Ford struggle with the fallout over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the continued mess and chaos in long-term care facilities and schools. Importantly, they claim there are two key things going in their favour: first, the widespread view that Ford is in over his head as premier, and second, their belief that NDP leader Andrea Horwath has shown little as Leader of the Official Opposition and has wasted her partys chance to be viewed widely as a real alternative to the Tories. Strategically, the Liberals will focus their main efforts on winning back the more than 40 ridings they lost in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas in the 2018 election. As well, they hope to capture some of the 14 ridings in eastern Ontario, an area where they were almost wiped out in 2018. At the same time, a policy team is working on a platform focused on health care, education and how best to lead the economic recovery. Already the party has unveiled two major platform planks, namely lowering the cost of child care to $10 a day and spending $8 billion over five years to build and repair schools. Clearly, the Liberals dream of going from third to first rests largely with Del Duca. Even he admits hes not a charismatic leader or a great orator. But then Ford or Horwath arent either. Still, party strategists and veterans say Del Duca needs to definite himself better to voters. He needs to project a positive image because Ford will surely launch attack ads trying to brand Del Duca, who is a former cabinet minister, as an integral member of the old McGuinty-Wynne team so roundly disliked after 15 years in government. In the coming weeks they will work with Del Duca to develop a plan to outline who he is and what he stands for. Theyll also work on getting him to project a more energetic, optimistic and forward-looking image that can appeal to traditional Liberal voters who abandoned the party in the 2018 election. But they also know Del Duca cant pull it off by himself. Thats why they plan is to run a Team Liberal campaign, wringing as much as they can from what is still a strong Liberal brand in Ontario and attracting at least 12 to 15 top candidates who can be viewed as a strong cabinet-in-waiting.  Next, the Liberals intend to surround Del Duca with experienced policy experts from universities, think tanks, community groups and the business world, looking at issues such as transportation in the GTA, the economy and health care. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Ultimately, their goal is to show voters that Del Duca and the Liberals are a solid team, have well-reasoned policies, a consistent message and are ready to govern. The big question, though, is whether voters believe the Liberals have been in the doghouse long enough, or do they want to continue to punish them, as they did in 2018. The answer will determine the fate of the partys hopes of a third-to-first victory. Bob Hepburn is a Star politics columnist based in Toronto. Twitter: @BobHepburn is a Star politics columnist based in Toronto. Twitter: @BobHepburn  Read more about: