Changebook and regime change in a new (old) Tory Ontario

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Martin Regg Cohn      
Queen's Park Columnist     
 
Forget Facebook. Disregard the old Liberal Red Book.

Changebook is here, heralding regime change in Ontario.

That's the new-age name for a strikingly old-fashioned election platform being released at the Progressive Conservatives' pre-election convention this weekend. Inspired by the zeitgeist of social media, changebook is Tory Leader Tim Hudak's master plan to retake — and remake — Ontario.

"What will define us as a party is changebook," Hudak proclaimed at the convention.

More than 1,700 pumped-up Tory activists got an advance look at the changebook battle plan — and they lapped it up:

 • Generous tax cuts for voters, matched by guaranteed annual program cuts, all without harming health care and education — and while still miraculously balancing the budget.

 • Lower heating and hydro bills, without hurting power generation.

 • An end to "sneaky" eco-fees and carbon taxes, without hobbling the environment.

 • More tax credits for people who hire nannies, but nothing for working families waiting for daycare.

Will voters buy into it? More importantly, who will pay for it?
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So what kind of change is Hudak offering? The Tories say it's time for a change, but are they able to change with the times?

In Hudak's laments for a long-lost Ontario, he harps on the past rather than seizing the moment and embracing the future. The PC platform has an unmistakably retro feel to it, with Hudak describing change in the comforting homilies, slogans and nostalgia of a bygone era.

Changebook is both a U-turn and a hard swing to the right. The Tories say they will restore Ontario's glory as a "have" province after seeing it slip into "have-not" status during a long economic decline. They'll restore discipline to the education system and the prison system.
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The prison plan bespeaks the kind of family values campaign that worked so well for the federal Conservatives in the last election. But this platform is constructed largely out of tall tales that varnish the truth. Putting prisoners to work may be a popular pitch, but it's pure bait and switch: a Tory government would never implement the plan because it's utterly unworkable (too complex, too costly, too risky).

But that didn't stop Hudak from promising more from the promised land of a Tory Ontario: Traffic jams? He'd unjam them. Native blockades? He'd unblock them. Honestly. Harmlessly.
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Ontarians are starting to see what Hudak's like, and we'll soon see whether they like what they see: changebook, chain gangs and a change in direction — back to a place they've seen and been before.

Martin Regg Cohn's provincial affairs column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. mcohn@thestar.ca, twitter.com/reggcohn