After a provincial election campaign fought in the shadow of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs and annexation, federal parties could draw some lessons from the way Doug Ford and his Ontario PC Party romped to victory.
Ford pitched himself as the best leader to protect the province against those threats and even made “Protect Ontario” his campaign slogan.
His campaign focused almost exclusively on that one issue and he was rewarded with a third straight majority government, something no leader has accomplished in Ontario since 1959.
It’s a formula that strategists of all political stripes say the federal leaders should emulate if they hope to win the general election on April 28.
Kory Teneycke, who managed all three of Ford’s provincial campaigns and advised Stephen Harper during his time as prime minister, says the federal parties must acknowledge what matters to voters right now.
“The number one issue …