Met liberal leader Steven Del Duca the other day. He was not what I expected. He turns out to be a modest man in a rough and tumble business. I now understand the commercials that the liberals are running with him speaking quietly about family. I think he will be an unusual premier but exactly the type of person we desperately need to speak for the province of Ontario.
The contrast to Doug Ford is stark. Ford is a blowhard label salesman who forces himself forward. Del Duca stands back a bit.
Del Duca was dressed as any urbanite on his way to his summer cottage. In Jeans and open necked shirt, he comes across as “every man.” Instead of a huge bus, he is be travelling Ontario in a more modest van. And he seems to know that only lawyers (he is one) and undertakers wear a tie north of Highway 7.
We met in Barrie. Our Barrie mayor, and our local liberal candidate, Jeff Lehman, introduced me. I only asked Del Duca one question. I wanted to know what he thought about the short election time of which the Ford conservatives are taking advantage.
Del Duca seemed to think about the question, so Jeff jumped in to agree that there were only 15 days between the Writ of Election being published and the polls opening for the voters. Since I had run the ground game for Lehman’s campaign 12 years ago, when he first became mayor, he easily understood my question.
Of course, Lehman is lucky. He and his team have been out canvassing for the past month and have been getting a good reception from the voters. Del Duca is obviously counting on Lehman as part of the liberal team to be elected to the legislature in this election. He needs Jeff’s experience as chair of the large municipalities in Ontario. And as a Barrie MPP, Lehman’s experience teaching at the London School of Economics and in providing advice to governments across Canada provides him with a solid base for a senior role in the rebuilt liberal caucus in the Ontario government.
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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
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