Tory, Tory, Tory

Far be it from me to tell John Tory what to do. On the other hand, as my former boss Robert Stanfield used to say, why offer a target when you don’t need to?

The leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party may have fallen into the same trap as Stanfield did in the run-up to the 1974 federal election when Stanfield campaigned on price and income controls. Voters thought his policy was a great idea as long as it didn’t affect their wages, which, of course, it did. Pierre Trudeau made hay with his scoffing line, “Zap, you’re frozen,” and went on to win handily.

With a provincial election scheduled for October 10 John Tory had to deal with the same dilemma that confronts all Leaders of the Opposition. Do I come up with ideas, or do I just hammer away at government ineptitude?

He chose the honorable former route, as did Stanfield, but may live to rue the day he took a stand on extending funding to religious schools. A coalition called Working Families is already running TV ads showing teachers’ strikes and public protests they say were caused by similar PC policies in previous administrations.

If the past is prologue, we know what happens next.