Tories raise five times as much money as cash strapped Liberals.

[Michael Bluth]

As for Flaherty's measures like transit passes, while valid they're hardly high profile. I'm not saying they don't have value, just that they are about as exciting to the common man as the typical CBC NW documentary about gay rights in native communities north of the Arctic circle.

True, we're not in an election but we're definitely in pre-election mode. The writ could be dropped at any time and it would be a bit late then to start trying to increase a party's appeal. These months are a golden opportunity to try to increase Tory attractiveness to the voters. I'm just saying if there is anything happening it sure seems low key.

John Baird seems to be a good man but not that well known. The type of guy you call reliable and punctual. Low on charisma but strong on character.

As for the Tories holding the majority of the seats outside of the GTA, I would wager it would be easier to try to pick up seats from what's left than from the GTA.

Harris? Hard to argue that there's a man who understands the mood of the Ontario voter, after his successes. The question is, is Harper listening to him?

So you want valid, high profile measures to assist Ontario, while remaining fiscal credibility but don't have any ideas. Perhaps because what you are asking for, all while remembering the rest of the country, is far easier said than done. And it wasn't that easy to say.

Any appeals to the public have to be low-key. Harper has consistently stated his desire to govern to the fixed election date. Any high profile pre-election posturing at this point hurts his credibility on fixed election dates.

Baird is not well known? He is one of the party's highest profile ministers and a former provincial cabinet minister. What more would he have to do to be high profile? Lacking in charisma? Well, maybe charisma ain't all it's cracked up to be.

Completely agreed that any CPC gains in Ontario will have to come from outside the GTA.

Harris? A little politically toxic after the Ipperwash inquiry. Not sure if he wants to offer advice to Harper.

CBC NW documentaries. Bah!

Edited May 4, 2008 by Michael Bluth

[Wild Bill]

So you want valid, high profile measures to assist Ontario, while remaining fiscal credibility but don't have any ideas. Perhaps because what you are asking for, all while remembering the rest of the country, is far easier said than done. And it wasn't that easy to say.

Any appeals to the public have to be low-key. Harper has consistently stated his desire to govern to the fixed election date. Any high profile pre-election posturing at this point hurts his credibility on fixed election dates.

Baird is not well known? He is one of the party's highest profile ministers and a former provincial cabinet minister. What more would he have to do to be high profile? Lacking in charisma? Well, maybe charisma ain't all it's cracked up to be.

Completely agreed that any CPC gains in Ontario will have to come from outside the GTA.

Harris? A little politically toxic after the Ipperwash inquiry. Not sure if he wants to offer advice to Harper.

CBC NW documentaries. Bah!

I've never quite bought in to the villification of Mike Harris. He came into politics like a breath of fresh air. He inherited the party mostly because no one else wanted it, it being so far down in the dumps. The red and blue factions had fought for years to control the party and for most of those years it was the pink Tories running the show.

He offered himself as not just a real conservative but a politician who intended to keep his word. To everyone's surprise he eventually achieved two hefty majorities.

Of course, the left was horrified and refused to believe that Harris got his majorities 'cuz his views were so popular. Everything had to be skewed to paint Harris as a villain. After some of the Walkerton water scandal talk had died down the media almost made it seem like Harris had FORCED Mr. Cable to poison the water!

Harris retires and Eves steps in. Right from the start of the campaign it was obvious his advisers were telling him to "fight for the middle". The pink Tories were back in power.

Of course, they lost! Eves lost and John Tory lost. Badly.

To hear the folks on the left tell it, it was because both Eves and John Tory were still too much like Harris! This made no sense at all to me. Voters already had leftwing candidates. They were running under the Liberal and NDP banners.

Effectively, all of Harris' true supporters had been denied a choice. Judging by the numbers, a lot of them chose to stay home.

I say again, Michael. Politics is driven by popular perceptions. You can have perfectly valid reasons for a given approach but if it's not accepted it doesn't matter. People are ALWAYS dissatisfied with their usual choices! Look at Trudeau, Mulroney and Harris, who achieved stunning success and majorities. They didn't get that success by "fighting for the middle". They presented themselves as different from the usual bunch. You could also make the argument that Mulroney's fall from grace happened when the people lost faith in him and decided his uniqueness had been a canard for their votes and not sincere.

Now the CPC seems so concerned with not appearing "scary" that they don't look all that different from the others, at least at times. The dominant colour is beige, beige, beige...

I keep coming back to the idea of inspiration, I guess. Without inspiration people tend to stick with the status quo. The CPC approach has obviously been successful in the west and some parts of Ontario. It needs something more to achieve more Ontario seats.

I dunno, maybe beige is the right colour for Ontario as well. After the votes are counted, we'll see. A little late then to change tactics, however.

Edited May 5, 2008 by Wild Bill