Category: Chairman’s Desk

Today, I’m pleased to share with you the news that Navigator becomes the first public affairs firm to join the Blockchain Research Institute (BRI), an organization conducting ground-breaking research on the impact of blockchain technology on business, government and society.

At Navigator, we never stop investing in our team and in our craft. We take pride in being on the cutting edge of technology, and developing proprietary solutions our clients simply won’t find elsewhere. We study and learn from other markets and evaluate emerging capabilities in our industry to offer clients a full suite of tools to help them win.

We are proud of our work to date with clients in emerging sectors, including the sharing economy, artificial intelligence, and cannabis legalization. For us, supporting the BRI in their work fits with our ongoing drive as a firm to push boundaries and help our clients succeed. We cannot risk seeing our clients fall behind the coming wave of disruption, nor remain in the dark regarding all of the benefits such a technology affords.

The BRI’s co-founder Don Tapscott is a visionary in this regard. Canada is poised to become a global leader in this space, but many challenges lie ahead. By joining his initiative, we will have a front-row seat to understanding all of the coming industry transformations, ranging from financial services to energy, from health care to retail services.

To celebrate this landmark occasion, Navigator is launching today a new podcast production, Banking on Blockchain. Each week, we will be sitting down with top experts in the field who will guide all of us to a deeper understanding of the technology and how it’s changing the way we do business in Canada.

As we speak with industry players, regulators, and researchers throughout the series, you’ll find out why so much of the innovation in this space is occurring right here in Canada under our very noses. We bring those stories right to your door and hope you will join us on this journey.

I encourage you to follow the link bankingonblockchain.fm to listen to our first episode, subscribe to the series, and leave a review on iTunes or SoundCloud.

For all questions pertaining to our blockchain work and podcast, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

I’m excited about the promise of this new technology, and look forward to hearing your feedback on our latest production.

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Kathleen Wynne and Doug Ford believe in their bones that their view for Ontario’s future is the right one. Neither can understand the perspective of the other.

And so it starts. Even before the “official” beginning of the provincial election campaign, the deluge of polls has begun.

And the news isn’t good for the governing Liberals. The CBC‘s Eric Grenier, who compiles an aggregation of publicly available polls and has historically been quite accurate in his predictions, says that if an election were held today, it is more likely than not that the PCs would form a majority government.

But the election is not going to be held today. It is, of course going to be held on June 7, after what I predict will be one of the most ruthless and cutthroat campaigns Ontario has ever seen.

Over the last three weeks in this space, I have outlined the strategic options available to each of the three major parties. It is now time to see how they lift those choices off the pages of their plans and into the glare of a campaign.

Here’s what to watch for: how does the desire for change play out?

We know that, when asked, about 8 in 10 Ontarians say it is time for a change. What we don’t know yet is exactly what they mean by that and therein lies the rub.

If they mean that after 15 years they have just had enough of the Liberals, then that’s a challenge for the premier. It’s a challenge because it means that the voters are done and, in the process of deciding they want change, they have stopped listening to what the government has on offer. In fact, they no longer care, they simply want something else. Think Mike Harris after Bob Rae. Justin Trudeau after Stephen Harper. Rob Ford after David Miller.

At these times, voters think things have gotten turned upside down; that the tail is wagging the dog, and that massive, even if disruptive, change is needed.

These are very difficult campaigns for incumbent governments because not only are voters not listening to the new ideas and policies the government is campaigning on, they dismiss messaging that suggests that the opposition leader is not ready to lead, too risky and too inexperienced as fear-mongering and the tactics of the desperate.

On the other hand, if voters want a change in the way government sets its priorities and delivers services to them, then change can mean a change in policies and programs and not a change in parties. In this case, think Alison Redford after Ed Stelmach. Redford skilfully moved her party to the left, embraced a new and changed Alberta and came back from a 22-point deficit to form a majority government.

And so the stage has been set. With Andrea Horwath inexplicably still on the sidelines, the Liberals and PCs are set for an epic grudge match.

Kathleen Wynne and Doug Ford believe in their bones that their view for Ontario’s future is the right one.

Neither can understand the perspective of the other.

That, and both the stakes and the campaign teams, means that we will see a sharpness of messaging unlike what we have seen before. The simple truth is each side will need to be willing to skate into the corners and play elbows up hockey in order to have a chance to win.

How it all plays out will be anybody’s guess but that’s what will make this campaign so fascinating.

In the end, I’m betting it will come down to whether people are feeling precarious or left behind. If they are feeling left behind, that government is not working for them, that special interests have got the upper hand and that the elites are winning at their expense, then that’s advantage Ford.

If, on the other hand, they are feeling precarious, that daily life is getting harder, that enhanced entitlement programs make a difference for them, then that is advantage Wynne.

One last observation as you watch the polls. I’d bet that the Liberals support will be reported as under-represented. I have a hunch more people like some of the new programs announced in last week’s budget than will admit to pollsters.

But, again, that’s just a hunch.

Jaime Watt is the executive chairman of Navigator Ltd. and a Conservative strategist.

Navigator’s Executive Chairman Jaime Watt joins The Mike Farwell Show on 570 News to discuss Kathleen Wynne’s play for the provincial election.

 

Jaime Watt, who has orchestrated communication strategies behind elections across Canada, is writing a three-part series advising each of the main provincial party leaders on their best path to winning a majority government on June 7. This is Part 3.

This week, Ontario’s Liberals tabled their re-election road map (a.k.a. their budget) in the provincial legislature.

Expansive. Ambitious. Aspirational. Generous. Promises of billions in new spending on a broad sweep of priorities that the Liberals see as essential to maintaining and expanding a fair, inclusive and just society, which might also be essential to their re-election chances.

From free child care for pre-JK kids to dental coverage for Ontarians who don’t have coverage, the budget contained a little bit (or, OK, a lot) of something for everyone.

Pundits reacted how one might expect: by the government’s opponents, who can all but taste victory on June 7, it was decried as a spend-happy and irresponsible budget, a “suicide note” from a tired government in its final days.

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford decried the budget as a “spending spree” funded by taking money out of the pockets of taxpayers.

Andrea Horwath, who has advanced many of these ideas for years, dismissed it as a last-minute, last-ditch attempt at re-election.

But the document was actually a clever one. Wynne’s Liberals had little strategic choice but to veer sharply left.

They are a government that has run out of room on the right side of the political spectrum. While in Ontario Liberals are often elected with support from moderately conservative voters, in the premier’s case that ship has sailed.

The Ontario Liberals steady leftward march of the last 15 years – commitments to green energy projects, raising the minimum wage and significant overall general spending increases, not to mention the accumulated baggage of being a long-serving government – have closed the door to many of those voters.

That’s why the party must now focus on minimizing the New Democratic vote and turning the election into a black-and-white battle with Ontario’s Conservatives.

Luckily for Wynne, this is authentic and comfortable territory for her. Long before she was elected as a provincial politician, Wynne was a passionate activist on a number of these files, and was well-established on the progressive wing of her party.

And so, the budget represented a declaration that the Ontario Liberals plan to extend this leftward shift, should they be re-elected.

It won’t be an easy task. Polls have repeatedly shown that Wynne has a troublingly low approval rating – far lower than that of Stephen Harper at a similar time, for instance. The party has comparably low polling numbers.

Going into the election, she has a team that has proven effective and capable at her side, which has lost none of its enthusiasm and belief. She has presented a budget her party will be keen to run on.

Given their cards, the Liberals have optimally positioned themselves. Ford is always going to be the advocate for cutting government waste, and so a budget that highlights all of the good things Liberals believe the government can do for Ontarians creates a perfect foil.

It allows Wynne to be the force that believes in the opportunity for government to do good against a guy who just wants to cut.

And it renders Horwath little more than an afterthought.

It is, perhaps, the premier’s only shot: a left-wing coalition that supports a left-wing approach to policies. Seats in urban and Northern Ontario are the bulwark of that coalition.

That said, the Liberals will need some breaks.

To climb out of their current doldrums and to get the attention – and crucially, the consideration of the electorate – Doug Ford will have to stumble and prove he is not yet ready for prime time. Andrea Horwath will have to, once again, fail to connect with voters in a meaningful way.

The election will be decided in two months after a pitched battle over where Ontario’s values truly lie. The Liberals have staked out their position firmly, crisply and clearly.

Jaime Watt is the executive chairman of Navigator Ltd. and a Conservative strategist.

Navigator’s Executive Chairman Jaime Watt joins The Insiders on CBC Radio to weigh in on populist movements and how Canada is different.