Debate revealed what voters need to know

Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca stood out in a most Canadian way in the provincial election debate on Monday night. He exemplified the Peace, Order and Good Government slogan that I have such faith in, especially now that Ontario has scrapped it for the duration.

Del Duca was calm and intelligent, at such ease that he rarely went past his allotted speaking time, avoiding ending up in the word tangle that so often clotted the other candidates’ efforts.

He did not become verbally dishevelled as Conservative Leader Doug Ford often does. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath was smart and competent as always; it puzzles me that she consistently fails to reach the heights with voters. I’m glad the Green Party’s Mike Schreiner was there to keep everyone up to speed on desperately needed green change.

But with Ford the front-runner, thanks to Ontario’s rural-urban split, Del Duca needed to make an impression. And he did that just by being so un-Fordable.

I was mystified by a recent Toronto real estate magazine profile saying Del Duca has no charisma. This is Ontario. No one does. What we seek in politicians is competence.

Del Duca had killer points to make, including Ford’s absurd Highway 413 in an era that demands rapid transit, Ontario’s thinly staffed, inadequate health care — no dental or mental — system, the COVID chaos that often left Ontarians to their own devices; Ford’s anti-democratic failure to show up in the legislature, and of course the mistreatment of teachers and students and the mash-up mishandling of public education generally.

This led Ford to say he had appointed “the best education minister ever,” a vision of the clueless Stephen Lecce flashed before the audience’s eyes, and something went clunk.

Lecce has spent his life in politics. He mouths edu-jargon while looking alarmed and needy. It’s a good thing he is questioned so narrowly; he has no base of knowledge to mine anyway. This is not the job for him.

Regarding scandal, I have some sympathy with Lecce, a young man so desperate to fit in with his fellow frat boys at Western University. If only he had said no to that Sigma Chi slave auction, long wretched by 2006. But you know, ethics, decency, such watery concepts.

I doubt even Lecce thinks he’s the best education minister ever. I have no idea why Ford went bombastic about this fragile creature.

Another clunker. All four were asked to name their biggest political regret. Schreiner and Ford referred to ambition, Ford saying he should have run for premier four years earlier.

Horwath’s answer was wishywashy. She said she didn’t believe in the concept, saying regrets aren’t regrets, they’re “learning opportunities,” which is what I once said about buying a white winter coat but it didn’t convince me either, especially after I spilled the espresso.

Her remark was an “affirmation,” a piece of fluff you put on your wall, look at each morning and say, “Nah.”

Del Duca said he should have listened to voters more closely in 2018 (he lost his riding). He said this simply and with conviction. Good answer.

I also liked Del Duca talking about his young family. We need every kind of human in public life with every kind of personal life but nothing focuses the mind of a politician — or anyone — more than having kids. Children require safe societal structures.

As a novelist once wrote about young families starting out, “They knew what they were supposed to do. They knew what to expect and what was expected of them.” This kind of voter demands a lot from politicians. They’re hard to please, hard to reach.

I suspect this kind of voter is much more iffy about Ford this time around. That said, if Ford wins, I expect the Liberals and the NDP to do a Trudeau-Singh and work together to block the catastrophe of four more Ford years.

Del Duca will agree. He listens.