Conservative government hubris chequed.

I think that the Conservative Party of Canada wants to remain in a permanent minority position.

For a couple of weeks, they had the Liberals on the run, with the media and NDP ganging up on Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff. The Liberals’ popularity was sagging in the polls to below-Dion levels. The terrible mistake in judgment from the Liberals – announcing that they wanted to force a Fall election – pretty much guaranteed clear sailing for the Conservatives until Christmas. But no. The Conservatives made a giant communications error. Someone in the PMO thought, in his or her wisdom, that displaying hundreds of giant faked-up cheques in Conservative-held ridings across Canada was a great idea. It’s true that that sort of prop is fairly common fare at this sort of announcement, but it is completely unprecedented to have the cheques display the logo of the Conservative Party of Canada or to have them signed by the local MP, or by the Prime Minister. It was just simple misrepresentation. And it backfired. And it will have legs.

The surprising hubris and arrogance of this minority Conservative government began to be brought to light by the targeted communications campaign carried out by Gerard Kennedy. He went on tour and engaged in something that sells like hotcakes in political communication: evidence-based politics. Mr. Kennedy, his staff and volunteers gathered, parsed and then distilled the data about where the Conservatives doled out the infrastructure money into catchy narratives and punchlines. Then they targeted specific ridings where the most egregious offenses stuck out. It was easy pickings, but brilliant none-the-less.It resulted in some great coverage.

If the Liberals want to make some headway against a Conservative government that, even in minority, is behaving bloated, entitled and arrogant, they need to learn from Mr. Kennedy’s example and behave more like an Official Opposition party and engage in more evidence-based political communication.

It’s easy pickings out there. The Conservatives have left lots of low-hanging fruit. The Liberals just need to get organized and grab the golden apple.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *