What insiders expect in the mini-budget

Plus: No vax mandate for hospitals, PO shrugs off Cho complaint, and FES survival tips

ABOVE THE FOLD

Happy FES Day! Finance Minister PETER BETHLENFALVY will table the Fall Economic Statement in the Legislature around 1 p.m. It’s expected to lay out the path to post-pandemic recovery as the Ford government gears up for the general election in roughly six months. Here’s what insiders are looking for — and tips on how to survive today’s media and stakeholder lockup.

— JASON LIETAER, Conservative strategist and president at Enterprise Canada: This is the official-unofficial — however you want to say it — kickoff of the next election. This is the time that people are getting serious about what the what the narratives are going to be, what the competing storylines are going to be. They’ve shown their hand in terms of some of their big-picture narratives — we’re the “party of yes”, we’re going to build stuff, we’re going to have a plan for recovery.

As for the PCs pitching themselves as a pro-worker party: It’s an effort to say out loud where the party thinks there’s potentia…