In politics, perception/optics is everything. This is one reason political attack teams exist.
However, it is rare that any one issue defines your political opponent. It is even rarer in Canadian politics that one issue will bring down a minister or a government. What happens is that over time the constant political hammering helps to shape the public perception of your opponent or their party.
I can think back to the “Mr. Dithers” nickname coined by my attack team which helped to define Prime Minister Paul Martin.
On occasion your opponent hands you a gift in the form of a comment made, or action taken or a major misstep by one of their own team members. We can all remember the disastrous Stephane Dion video in 2008 and his now infamous shrug.
The Conservatives were handed such a gift recently with the revelation that Liberal MP Yasmin Ratansi had for years been paying her sister to work in her constituency office- a clear violation of the rules.
The Conservative attack team kicked into high gear. This was a golden opportunity to use this incident to try to reinforce their theme of a corrupt Liberal government with ethical issues.
However, another unwritten rule in politics is don’t throw stones in glass houses. Before you go hell bent on attacking your opponent make sure your side does not face the same issue.
The Conservative attack withered when it was revealed that their former leader, Andrew Scheer, had employed his sister-in-law in his constituency office. It should be noted that this was not against the rules, but that killed the thrust of the Conservative attack. Did no one on the attack team send out an email to all of their MPS to make sure that they were not facing a similar problem? If Scheer knew they were going after Ratansi, did he warn his own team of his issue before they launched their attacks on the Liberals?
The issue for the Conservatives was further clouded when after the story broke, Scheer fired his sister-in-law. Like it or not it leaves the perception that something was wrong. It actually reinforces the Liberal push back. It also confirms the perception that Scheer is a bumbler- remember the claim for education costs for his children that was kept from party members or losing an election that was his to win.
Unless the Conservatives get creative, the Ratansi issue has lost steam and the public is left thinking the Conservatives are no better than the Liberals. That is not the perception they want to leave with voters if they hope to win the next election.
