This advice is just for Ontario Progressive Conservatives. They are the ones who need to worry. The reason for this is the statement made last week by Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown’s good friend and campaign chair Walied Soliman. He is reported as saying, “We know that the Liberals are going to unleash a campaign of unprecedented ferocity against Patrick.”
That is the best news we have heard in a while. It is good to hear that those of us in Patrick Brown’s electoral district are not the only ones to know what a disaster Brown would be in the premier’s office. Walied, a Toronto lawyer, seems to think that the only path for Ontario Liberals is advertising that is a “negative, misleading and personal campaign against Patrick.”
To help stay this effort by the Liberals, Walied has had the Tory advertising agency create their own “negative, misleading and personal” ads featuring Patrick Brown.
One of the ads is not only negative in that it criticizes the ruling Liberals but it is misleading because the facts are wrong. He says that Toronto hydro prices are the highest in North America. That is not only ridiculously inaccurate but it is as though they never bothered to check.
Another of these digital (Internet) ads is about Brown’s support for an autistic child. During his years in politics, Brown has been hypocritically using charities to promote himself. He spent more money when in Ottawa than any other MP on mailings paid for by taxpayers but promoting himself and this or that charity. People thought he was helping the charities but it was Patrick who got the benefit. His advertising could often alienate supporters of the charity while creating a false impression of support. There are advertising experts who believe this could be doing the charities more harm than good.
It is lucky for the Ontario Tories that these digital ads are so cheap to make. (People are already familiar with the quality of ads like these from YouTube.)
One of the ads is a personal explanation by Patrick of overcoming his childhood stuttering. Having a brother who also had a problem with a childhood stutter, we also know that it takes the full support of family and friends to help the youngster get over the problem.
You would have thought though that having corrected the problem, Patrick would have had something worthwhile to say. As he has always been a politician, he continues to tell his audiences what they want him to say. This tends to confuse people though and nobody really knows what he stands for. Maybe he thinks that people will elect him and worry about where he wants to go later.
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Copyright 2017 © Peter Lowry
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