Ad watch: Ford vs. Crombie

And carjackers, beware

Presented by Ontario’s Universities

ABOVE THE FOLD

AD WATCH — Want to know how Ontario’s political parties are targeting you and their rivals on social media? Then it’s time for another instalment of our paid promo watch, thanks to Meta’s disclosures.

Upshot: The Tories are trashing the Liberals’ BONNIE CROMBIE, who in turn is making a relatively quiet social media debut as leader. New Democrats are laying low when it comes to paid ads, but they’re going hard with some cheeky freebies. For the Greens, policy is king.

Let’s dig in.

The PCs continue their anti-Crombie crusade. Last month, the ruling party unleashed ads on TV, radio and social media painting Crombie as an out-of-touch elitist with a (now-debunked) cottage in the Hamptons. That’s the same line of attack used by DOUG FORD’s critics, including the Grits, who say he’s too cozy with developers and only cares about helping his insider friends.

On Facebook, the ads say Crombie’s “friends with JUSTIN TRUDEAU” and a fan of Ottawa…