This is when political parties shoot their own feet

Opinion

We have officially reached the “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” portion of Canada’s 45th general election campaign. What else could explain the primal desires of party operatives on both sides to assail themselves rather than their opponents?

Both the Conservatives and the Liberals have been winning their respective campaigns, in their own way. Both parties are on track to win more votes than they did in each of their past two campaigns. The campaign is far from over, the election is far from decided. The platforms are still to come, and the leaders debates have yet to make their mark on voters. Victory is not assured.

So, why step on your team’s chances with headline-grabbing distractions of “blue on blue” and “red on red” friendly-fire and own goals?

First it was the campaign manager for Ontario Premier Doug Ford criticizing the campaign of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, calling it “Trumpy” and “campaign malpractice.”

Then it was the Liberals’ own campaign war room planting fake buttons at a conservative think tank event calling for the replacement of Poilievre’s campaign manager with Ford’s, as well as other MAGA-type tropes.

Each episode generated disproportionate media attention. It required both Poilievre and Liberal Leader Mark Carney to respond publicly to reporters’ enquiries at news conferences, fostering even more coverage.

Assuredly, neither leader wanted this. But both, in their own ways, invited it into their respective campaigns. It has to do with the brand weakness each party exhibits. For Liberals, it’s arrogance. For Conservatives, it’s meanness. Neither can completely shake this out of their party DNA.

Until this year, Conservatives were winning on their own terms. They did not want or need to moderate their image or reach out beyond their core support to beat Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. They could be a “true blue” party of “true blue believers” without need to compromise on policy or moderate on approach. The language and tone became exclusionary. You’re with us or without us. Predictably, Ford is now routinely labelled a “Liberal” on social media by die-hard federal Conservatives angry at his retinue.

“Blue on blue” can be local too. A guaranteed win in a traditional Conservative riding in Abbotsford, B.C. is now in jeopardy because the party rejected a high-profile, experienced candidate favoured by the local riding association, former MLA Mike de Jong, in favour of a malleable, rookie candidate fit to image by the central campaign. He’s now running as an independent with the very public backing of the former local Conservative MP.

Liberals, meanwhile, leading in the polls and convinced of their own rectitude on the issues, concocted a juvenile stunt to plant fake “Stop the Steal” and other buttons at the True North Strong and Free conservative conference in Ottawa. Arrogant enough to think it would amount to anything worth the effort. But then the operatives compounded the arrogance by bragging about it in a bar in earshot of a journalist and got outed in a CBC news story. Carney was forced to apologize for their actions. “Red on red” arrogance.

When it comes to character traits, our politicians and parties prefer hubris to humility. Partly this is in their own personal DNA. You cannot succeed in politics without some inflated sense of self. How do you persuade others about your ideas if you lack confidence in yourself to begin with? This is what can lead them to inflated perspectives on their sagacity and omnipotence.

Winning politics, however, is a game of addition, not subtraction. Successful campaigns are a game of focus, not distraction. On both these counts, the Conservative and Liberal campaigns have fallen short.

None of this is fatal on its own. But as spring days grow longer, campaign days grow shorter on the calendar to April 28. Neither party can afford to be hitting speed bumps in this final stretch.

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Politics in Canada are leadership affairs. Once installed, and especially in a campaign, party leaders rule like absolute monarchs, moderated only afterwards by the occasional regicide. Their word is binding, their decisions final. From platforms to candidates. And campaign teams become their agents.

Which is why “blue on blue” and “red on red” garners such outsized importance. It tells voters something about the governing character of those leaders and parties seeking our votes.

For the leaders, though, it reminds them of what’s truly at stake. Their job.

It’s not called a winner-take-all electoral system for nothing.

David McLaughlin is a former clerk of the executive council and cabinet secretary in the Manitoba government.