'How do you hide a leader?': Campaign directors look ahead to 2022

Plus: Smith loses longtime staffer, PCs nominate a mayor, and Ford fundraises

Good Monday morning. This is Queen’s Park Observer.

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Ontarians are waiting with bated breath for news on a possible earlier reopening, which could drop as soon as today. The buzz is that the province may enter Step 1 before June 14 as planned, perhaps on June 11, as it surpasses the requisite 60-per-cent threshold for first vaccinations.

Meanwhile, today is the anniversary of the 2018 vote. To mark the occasion, I asked the people leading the 2022 campaigns about their strategies for the next election. First up, the Opposition parties:

MICHAEL BALAGUS, who’s running the NDP’s election effort: “Our overarching goal is to elect a government — unlike the Liberals, which is to begin a rebuild, or the PCs to re-elect an unpopular Premier and government. To accomplish this we will need to do two things: First, remind folks and reinforce with them all the reasons they are angry and feel let down by the Ford government, and second, offer a hopeful and inspiring vision for the fu…