The PCs and NDP want to introduce voters to Crombie before she does

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Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party and New Democratic Party are united in one thing: defining new Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie before she defines herself.

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Both launched attacks on Crombie immediately after she won her party’s leadership last week.

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In some ways the attacks are working, at least in the short term because there was lots of chatter about whether Crombie owns a home in the Hamptons.

Premier Doug Ford even claimed Crombie is out of touch, “flying around on a private jet, going to her $5-million estate in the Hamptons.”

In fact, the Hamptons home was a key part of PC messaging all week, starting with their statement released as Crombie won.

Crombie does own a waterfront home on Long Island, N.Y., but it’s not technically in the Hamptons in the same way that Mississauga is not technically in Toronto — but they are close. The home was one she inherited from an aunt and uncle who passed away, she explained, but still, it had people talking about her home in the Hamptons, something most voters can’t relate to.

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The new Liberal leader wasn’t doing herself any favours in painting a portrait of herself as someone who is out of touch with average voters. Crombie told the Globe and Mail that the Liberals need to raise $1 million by the end of the year — in part, to pay herself — and when asked about that at Queen’s Park on Tuesday, gave the PC Party a clip for a future ad.

“A million-dollar salary, I’m the million-dollar girl,” Crombie said.

That was an own goal she will likely regret when that clip comes back in a future PC Party attack. The party seems determined to portray Crombie as wealthy and out of touch, pointing to a $35,000 Rolex she was seen wearing in a fundraising letter that went out last week.

The PC Party launched radio ads attacking Crombie over the house in the Hamptons and her record on raising taxes. This week, they will launch TV ads portraying Crombie as a carbon tax supporter who also raised taxes as repeatedly as mayor.

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The message from both ads: voters can’t afford Crombie.

The NDP, meanwhile, are trying to convince voters that there is no difference between Crombie and Doug Ford.

“Ontario Liberals have a new leader. But is Bonnie Crombie really any different from Doug Ford?” the newly launched Meet Bonnie website reads.

They point to Crombie’s statements on wanting to govern from the “centre right” as well as her comments about being open to develop Greenbelt lands to say there is no difference. The website also quotes Crombie’s leadership rivals Yasir Naqvi and Nathaniel Erskine-Smith making the comparison to Ford.

That both parties are focused on defining Crombie is proof that they see her as a threat, but it’s also good politics. Despite being well known in the GTA, Crombie isn’t a household name, and most voters will just be getting to know her now.

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In Ottawa, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals didn’t attempt to define Pierre Poilievre. They didn’t launch attack ads, they didn’t bring up old quotes or mistakes that would make him look bad in the eyes of voters.

Instead, they pretty much left him alone, which allowed Poilievre to travel the country meeting thousands of voters in person. He’s also used social media incredibly effectively to put forward a message, and the Conservative Party spent millions on an ad campaign to introduce him to Canadians.

The result is an increasing in name recognition and a higher favourability rating. It was a strategic error by the Trudeau Liberals that the Ontario PCs and NDP won’t be copying.

Crombie doesn’t have much time to introduce herself to voters before the other two parties do.

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