8 juin 2019 – Telegraph Journal

Analysis: Is Higgs taking a page from Ford's playbook?

OTTAWA • He’s putting stickers on gas pumps to warn of the carbon tax.

His government is welcoming beer being sold in more stores.

And he’s taking on public sector workers over wages.

To the casual observer, Blaine Higgs might appear to be taking pages out of the playbook.

But while the is currently enjoying robust popularity with voters, the Ontario premier is burning through political capital in his home province — a Mainstreet Research Poll released last month found that support for the Ontario PC government has “collapsed” — leading some political analysts to look at Higgs' latest moves with a questioning eye.

“Ford himself is going to be keeping a lower profile to try to avoid being used as a proxy by the Trudeau government,” said Dave Korzinski, research associate with Angus Reid polling firm, which released a poll on Friday suggesting support for Higgs is stronger than ever, at 53 per cent. “I think you risk tying yourself to that and the bravado of the Ford government. It can turn some people off.

“It will be interesting to watch how Higgs handles that," he said.

Growing links

Higgs rejects the comparison of his recent moves with Ford's strategy, telling the Telegraph- Journal: “I’ve never read his playbook, so I’m not tracking anything of that nature at all.”

But the two premiers, who had a private meeting in Toronto two weeks ago to discuss their shared opposition to the carbon tax, are ideologically aligned.

They both campaigned on fixing the finances of their respective provinces and both favour private sector economic growth and lower taxes. That’s led to balanced budget pledges and a fight against the federal carbon tax.

This week, the Ontario government announced that it is expanding the sale of beer, wine and cider to almost 300 more stores this summer as part of Ford's push to liberalize liquor rules in the province.

On Wednesday, NB Liquor made a similar announcement, saying beer will soon be available in 66 grocery stores. 8 juin 2019 – Telegraph Journal

New Brunswick's Progressive Conservative government also said this week that it has mailed out about 500 stickers with an anti-carbon tax message to provincial gas retailer. It's a move similar to a spring campaign by Doug Ford's Ontario PC government.

On Wednesday, the Ford government introduced legislation that would cap public sector worker raises at one per cent a year for the next three years.

Meanwhile, Higgs remains unbending in a standoff with nursing home workers, with an offer of a four per cent wage hike over four years.

The succession of events saw interim opposition Liberal Leader lead question period by suggesting that the premier has “reached a new low, seeking to imitate his hero, Doug Ford, at the slightest opportunity.”

Higgs shrugs all of this off, telling the Telegraph-Journal the idea of stickers wasn’t discussed at his meeting with Ford in Toronto and that NB Liquor’s decision to put beer in grocery stores was a natural progression from having a selection of wine on supermarket shelves.

He then referenced a string of one per cent public sector wage increases carried out by past New Brunswick Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments.

“Maybe he’s following our playbook,” Higgs said.

Warning

There are certainly upsides to having shared views and good relationships with political peers, political expert J.P. Lewis says.

“Having a good relationship with the premier of another province is a good thing for New Brunswick in terms of making deals and presenting a united front to whoever is forming the federal government,” said Lewis, a political scientist at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John.

But Ford, he said, is definitely a "polarizing" politician.

“Higgs’ party got 32 per cent of the popular vote (in the 2018 general election), he doesn’t have a tonne of room to play with. Based on the electoral math, they have to build more bridges than they tear down," he said. "They have to continue to broker a larger coalition of support. It’s important to watch how that relationship is handled, especially if Ford’s unpopularity continues to climb.”

Jamie Gillies, a political scientist and communications professor at St. Thomas University, said Higgs has developed a synergy with the federal Tories and his Ontario and Alberta counterparts around messaging and branding, particularly on the carbon tax. 8 juin 2019 – Telegraph Journal

But Gillies believes Higgs is being more cautious, cognizant of his minority grasp of government, a position he suggested Higgs maintain in the nursing home workers battle.

“I think that on the nursing home worker negotiations, Higgs probably has to be careful not to be linked to Ford and public sector austerity measures,” he said.

How Higgs differentiates himself could be as simple as style, Lewis suggested.

“They’re aligned in certain aspects, but their style and the type of politicians they are mark them incredibly different,” he said. “Doug Ford is a bull in a China shop and I don’t think Higgs is like that at all.

Université de Moncton political science professor Roger Ouellette echoed the sentiment, noting: “They may have the same ideology, but they’re not really the same personality at all.”

Higgs contends he is doing things his own way.

“We’re doing our own thing here and I intend to keep doing that,” he said.