Queen's Park Observer

Queen's Park Observer

Hot takes, hurt feelings, Hail Marys

Ford forever?

Sabrina Nanji's avatar
Sabrina Nanji
Sep 09, 2025
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ABOVE THE FOLD

The political class is buzzing after the Liberals dropped their campaign post-mortem — and naturally, the knives (and eye-rolls) are out. Grits and Tories alike are dishing their hot takes on what went wrong, while a one-time PC insider-turned-federal Conservative is weighing in on the durability of Ford Nation. And a longtime Tory strategist has some advice on how MARIT STILES can keep the NDP in the game.

LIBERAL SOUL-SEARCHING (OR LACK THEREOF) — The Liberals’ hotly anticipated campaign debrief (which the Star got the jump on) reads like a “lessons learned” checklist — but reaction from partisans has been anything but polite.

One senior Grit told me bluntly: “This isn’t a serious set of recommendations nor a true path forward…it’s factually wrong about a number of things.” They rattled off omissions — from GOTV to digital infrastructure — and noted the report ignored that BONNIE CROMBIE lost five ridings by fewer than 200 votes. “It just misses the mark so badly.”

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