Parties target messages to Immigrants

Parties target messages to Immigrants

Supporters of Raj Grewal, Kamal Khera and Ruby Sahota, all Liberal candidates from Brampton ridings, at a rally in the Toronto suburb recently. Photo Credit: Ranjit Bhaskar

By Ranjit Bhaskar

With the federal election campaign crossing the midway marker, the theatrics are as predictable as ever, with minor distractions.

Leaders of all the major political parties are staying on message, spouting lines that sound jaded, throwing phantom punches at opponents. This theatre is played out at campaign stops with partisans providing diversity drapes and the mainstream media trying to derail leaders with questions that top the day’s news agenda. There have, of course, been a few sidelights.

While the politicians at least tweak their backdrops and messages to suit the location and the occasion, be it in Ajax or Scarborough, the media unwittingly turns it into vanilla occasions. Their relentless single topic questions are seen as bullying by partisans unaware of the media’s need to feed the 24-hour news cycle.

The reaction of the supporters to the hounding of their leaders, from rants to heckling, then quickly becomes news. The opportunity to use the drawn-out campaign as a sounding board to discuss big ideas in this three-way race has been wasted so far.

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