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That said, there is a Ford factor in this federal election in Ontario. The PC premier isn’t terrifically popular and those who dislike him dislike him a lot. No doubt Ford is one of the reasons why most polls show the Liberals are modestly ahead in the province.

In trying to amplify that dislike for Ford, Trudeau was taking a page from the old Dalton McGuinty playbook. The former premier was the master of campaigns that made the point that, despite certain blemishes on his own record, the other guy was far, far worse.

Who can forget the 2007 Ontario election, when McGuinty managed to persuade voters that innocuous PC leader John Tory was intent on destroying public education, all over some modest support for parents who put their children in private schools.

An old leadership campaign video of Scheer promising a tax credit for private school parents resurfaced on social media recently. The Liberals must have been praying that Scheer would follow through on the promise, because they know how to win that election. Unfortunately for the Liberals, Scheer said the promise would not be part of his election plan.

There’s the problem with Scheer, if you happen to be Trudeau. Scheer has made himself a frustratingly elusive target. The Conservative chief has taken few policy positions and the ones he has espoused are moderate. As a person, Scheer embodies caution and circumspection. He’s not the kind of guy who is given to wild, off the cuff statements, like Ford. Recent criticisms of Scheer have included his overabundance of folksiness and reaching too far to shake someone’s hand.