John Tory's Tories released their platform all at once last weekend.
Dalton McGuinty is releasing his one plank at a time.
I've never really been sure of the point of releasing an entire platform at once and early on.
Tory received a couple of days of press for his platform, most of it lukewarm, with the press skipping the less interesting points.
McGuinty, so far, has several days of announcements covered by just about everybody, and there will be more announcements to come.
Stephen Harper's Conservatives did this in the last federal election, giving an announcement per day for much of the campaign.
It appears to be a solid strategy because, unless no one likes your ideas, it gets you in the paper every day promising to do something decent and worthwhile.
The provincial election isn't until Oct. 10, and the official campaign doesn't begin until Sept. 10. This makes one think that a good strategy would be to announce new initiatives for a couple of weeks, then spend the summer at barbecues and festivals shaking hands, then come back in September with big announcements every day or two, with the pre-summer announcements re-announced to pad the schedule and remind voters what you promised earlier in the year.
So, what is Dalton promising this time around?
Early June:
I don't remember it being an official announcement, but he did say he would not raise taxes, but he would not cut them either. It's roughly the same thing he said during the 2003 campaign, before he was elected and introduced an enormous tax hike in the form of the "health premium."
Mid-June:
Environment Minister Laurel Broten announced that she would ask Waste Diversion Ontario to report on an idea to impose an "eco-fee" on electronics. The "fee," which you could call a tax, in the same way a health premium could be called a tax, would be between $5 and $45, depending, one assumes, on what you buy. Waste Diversion Ontario is expected to get back to the government with their thoughts on an "eco-fee" in February, long after the next election. It all makes one wonder why the government would introduce the idea of a new tax a couple of weeks after saying there would be no new taxes, even though they're not going to introduce the new tax until after the next election, if they're elected, and if Waste Diversion Ontario thinks it's a good idea.
June 16:
$11.5 billion over 12 years for 52 new public transit projects. These announcements are always weird, since the government is only in power for four years but announcing things for three terms. Would another government stay true to the announcement? Anyway, for Mississauga, it means more transit on Hwy. 407, quicker transit along the Lakeshore line, and more trips through Mississauga on the Milton line.
June 18:
McGuinty promised that greenhouse gas emissions will be cut to six per cent below 1990 levels by 2014, just two years after the 2012 Kyoto deadline. McGuinty plans to meet the target by closing the four remaining coal-powered plants by 2014. He'll also count on public transit to cut 30 per cent from the overall output, and will offer incentives to municipalities and make cars more efficient.
June 19:
McGuinty will spend $650-million of Ontario's money to lure new investment in environmentally-friendly technologies in the auto sector.