Ontario’s publicly funded broadcaster published an article guiding the province’s centre-left parties on how they can work together to defeat Premier Doug Ford in a general election.
In an article titled “Here’s how to beat Doug Ford in the next election,” TVO’s Steve Paikin describes a plot that the Ontario Liberals, NDP, and Green party could develop to oust the Progressive Conservatives in power.
Referencing the recent legislative election in France that saw the centrist and left-wing coalitions work together to keep the right-wing National Rally from forming government, Paikin suggests a coalition of Ontario’s centre-left could keep the PCs out of power.
“If the current premier is really so awful, why don’t you replicate the French experience here in Ontario?” writes Paikin. “Officials from the three opposition parties could meet and come to an agreement on how the parties would contest Ontario’s 124 ridings, whenever the next election takes place.”
Paikin suggests that the Liberals, NDP, and Greens collaborate with one another to defeat Ford’s PCs by strategically running candidates in ridings so that centre-left candidates do not split the vote.
It suggests that in the 83 ridings the PCs won in the 2022 election, the Liberals withdraw candidates from northern Ontario and southwestern Ontario while the NDP ceases to run candidates in historically Liberal ridings such as Toronto—St. Paul’s and Toronto Centre.
The article raises questions about Ontario’s public broadcaster and its political neutrality, political observers say.
Takdeer Brar, a consultant at Crestview Strategy tells True North that TVO needs to reorient its focus away from anti-Conservative attacks and towards providing Ontarians content that is consistent with their mandate.
“TVO is an exclusively taxpayer funded media organization. But despite soaring crime, inflation, and a struggling middle-class, this organization instead prioritizes anti-conservative hit pieces,” says Brar.
“Remarkably, TVO fails to understand that this very conservative government was repeatedly elected by a majority of Ontario voters. When will this organization begin to provide impartial news reporting rather than fantasy opinion pieces targeting the will of the Ontario people?”
TVO receives over $39 million dollars annually from the Ontario government to provide educational content, produce documentaries, and content on current affairs for the benefit of all Ontarians.
True North reached out to TVO for comment but received no response.
