Skip to main content
opinion

Tim Hudak is not the first politician to take voters for chumps, and he certainly will not be the last.J.P. MOCZULSKI

Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak unveiled his party's platform yesterday with a fiscal plan for the province. But it's clearly about the simpler things - tax cuts and a promise to force provincial prisoners to do manual labour: "picking up litter, raking leaves, cutting grass, and other tasks." It is a classic wedge issue: attractive on its face to the constituencies the Tories are courting, triggering the usual backlash from non-Tories, but not driven by any real specific public desire or policy merit.

There is little evidence that the idea will work, if by "work" we mean help rehabilitate prisoners. Indeed, the real target is not prisoners at all, but security-conscious voters. Mr. Hudak underscored this point in a speech on Saturday, saying "I'd especially like to see prisoners using mop and pail to clean up the graffiti that defaces our cities and town that threatens law-abiding citizens with a message 'Gangs rule here.'"

Prisoners will ultimately do work currently done by paid labour. As a wedge, the Tories may view this as a plus: If labour unions object, they will appear to be protecting their own turf rather than thinking of the social benefit Mr. Hudak ascribes to his idea. And if the left howls about a return to medievalism, about chain gangs, that plays into Mr. Hudak's hands as well.

But Mr. Hudak should think about what's he actually offering. It's dangerous to put prisoners in public parks, and so the Tories have budgeted $20-million, presumably for transportation and extra security. So ultimately, the province is paying for prisoners to get out of overstuffed lock-ups, while facing little downside if they "work to rule." Not humiliation, but rather a costly perk.

The rest of the Tory platform is a variation from the Liberal record, rather than a wholesale repudiation of it. It has several pocketbook-friendly moves: an immediate cut on electricity bills, an income tax cut and income-splitting for couples. But Mr. Hudak will need to give more detail about the cuts required to meet his modest deficit elimination schedule (in six years, the same as the Liberals). In particular, he missed an opportunity to explain how he would bring the public sector wage bill under control.

Mr. Hudak hopes savvy messaging will bring victory in the October election. It's too bad that the most visionary aspect of his platform is $20-million for the supposed objects of his scorn.

Interact with The Globe