How the leaders’ debate affects the rest of the Ontario election campaign [Video]

Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford’s campaign slogan is “Protect Ontario,” but during the province-wide leaders’ debate on Monday night, he seemed to switch it to “Protect My Lead.”

Ford played it safe for the 90 minutes of televised debate time, and he played it even safer after the broadcast by skipping out on the scheduled post-debate news conferences.

That’s the second straight time Ford has refused to participate in a post-debate Q and A, as he did the same thing on Friday after the northern debate. This means Ford has now gone more than a week without taking any questions from reporters on Ontario soil, smack-dab in the middle of an election campaign that lasts just four weeks.

It’s all part of a very clear Ford strategy that was also on display during the debate: sticking to his single-minded campaign message of protecting Ontario from the threat of tariffs, and spending as little time as possible talking about anything else.

Among Ford’s rivals, Liberal …