Do non-unionized families work too?

If you live in Ontario, you've probably seen the ads from Working Families Coalition. Their singular purpose is to keep the Liberals in power and the Conservatives out. I'm not even sure if the NDP registers on their radar.

PC Party president Blair McCreadie formally asked chief election officer John Hollins to conduct a probe, "suggesting the organization is not independent but in effect works for the Liberal party".

Also, there is some confusion between the WFC and the Family Coalition Party:

Family Coalition Party leader Giuseppe Gori said he learned about Working Families from press coverage of the Tories' complaint.

"This group had applied for status as a third party and I didn't even know at the time," said Gori, whose socially conservative party will field 70 to 100 candidates this election.

"There's a confusion of the names and we were very concerned ... They call themselves a family coalition, but they actually stand for the opposite of what we stand for. They're a union-type of organization."

How long this will take to get resolved is anyone's guess. Meanwhile, the ads continue to pummel the airwaves.




'Working Families' includes the following:


* Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association
* Canadian Auto Workers
* Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation
* International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 128
* International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
* Millwrights
* International Union Of Operating Engineers Local 793
* Painters District Council 46
* Ontario Pipe Trades Council


So why do they use the moniker "Working Families Coalition" rather than some label identifying them as a labour special interest group?

Could it be that they want to play down that aspect?


McGuinty denies links, and says he's not concerned about the "appearance created by a $1.98 million provincial grant to Local 793 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, whose president heads the coalition."

Also probably just a coincidence that "Working Families Coalition chair Gary O'Neill is also president of Local 793, which held a 2006 Liberal fundraiser for McGuinty. The union donated more than $66,000 to the Liberals between 2003 and 2006."


I did happen to come across an interesting tidbit from the previous election, from the Oct. 20, 2003 issue of Marketing Magazine - Marketing McGuinty.

The whole strategy from the last election is right there in black and white, and it appears that a lot of the same ploys are being resurrected. It's a fascinating article. I highly recommend it.

The piece is an analysis of the supposed 'positive' campaign that proved to be a winning strategy. And every time that the opposition went negative they had a plan too:

From the outset, Liberal pit bulls like senior strategist Warren Kinsella and MPP George Smitherman went to work making sure the media noticed the Tory attacks. Convinced the Tory ads wouldn't work, Kinsella says the team felt confident enough to release a leaked copy of the spots to journalists during one of their first press conferences of the campaign. "As the reporters were coming in, we played Peggy Lee's 'Is That All There Is?', just to underline the fact that, if that's the best they've got, it wasn't going to be terribly effective."

And here's another bit of insight right here:

The high road aside, it should still be noted that third-party advertising, from groups such as the Working Families Coalition, served to sling mud in the Tory direction without getting the Liberals dirty in the process. "Not this time, Ernie. Not this time," stated a voiceover in the WFC spot.

So, the 'third-party' Working Families Coalition did the dirty work for McGuinty so that his halo would remain untarnished.

Now why was that paragraph included in an article about winning Liberal strategy???

Why?

* * * *

Update: Warren Kinsella equates the Canadian Jewish Congress to Working Families in terms of third party advertising (Sept. 5).

Also, John Tory hands him a huge gift.

Warren, you can take a vacation now. You won. Congratulations.

However, it's only fair to Mr. Tory to point out the following (CTV):

Tory later clarified his remarks to say that he meant creationism could be taught in such a class, and that he did not mean to suggest the two theories would be given equal weight in a science lab...

And

Catholic schools may talk about creationism, Wynne said, but only in the context of a broader religious discussion.

So what's the problem?